Congress president Rahul Gandhi`s remark on Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s New Year interview by a "pliable journalist” garnered strong condemnation from the Editors Guild of India. The Guild expressed its worries over the gradual turned down in the nature of political dissertation.
It Hit out at Gandhi scion Rahul for his remarks in opposition to news agency ANI. Editor Smita Prakash who interviewed PM Modi, the Guild said that The Editors Guild of India has expressed the concern the words used by Congress President Rahul Gandhi in his condemnation of ANI Editor-in-Chief Smita Prakash.
The Guild considers journalists should claim no immunity from healthy and civilized condemnation. At the same time, labeling of journalists has emerged as a favorite approach on the part of the establishment. And They “Discredit, delegitimize and intimidate them."
“We have seen our political class use this for some time now. In the recent past, top BP leaders, as well as those of AAP, have used unambiguously abusive expressions such as “presstitute", news-traders, "bazaarti" (saleable commodities) or "dalals" (pimps) for journalists," the Guild further said.
It also said that, "Combined with ploys such as boycotts, denial of access and lately government accreditation, this adds up to a reprehensible strategy to throttle media freedoms. This must be reversed. Journalists, we believe, will continue to deal with these with their usual thick skins and not let these tactics intimidate them. The Guild, as an apex, non-partisan institution, however, takes strong exception to this tendency and calls for its halt."
Worth mention here the Press Club of India, Indian Women`s Press Corps, and the Press Association also expressed apprehension over the gradual decline in the nature of political discourse.
"Terms like `presstitute` used by a former Union Minister and more recently `pliable` by the President of a political party for the media are inappropriate and lower the dignity of discourse in general," they stated in a joint statement.
