Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad   

Media panel for action against film personalities

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD April 22. The Media Joint Action Committee against Attacks on Journalists has demanded that the State Government take suo motu action against some film personalities who had allegedly made derogatory and unsavoury remarks against journalists on `Teja TV' two days ago.

``The remarks are cheap in taste and speak volumes about what they are made of,'' representatives of various journalist associations pointed out here on Tuesday.

In a memorandum submitted to the Director General of Police, P. Ramulu, the committee demanded that the Police Department initiate action against film personalities, as it would normally do against any criminal offenders.

They said several actors, directors and comedians had heaped abuses and filthy comments on scribes and even went to the extent of threatening to ``wipe out journalists physically'' in interviews to the television channel.

``One person even went to the extent of saying that he would ask his fans association to attack journalists all over the State. These comments were recorded and parts of it were shown on the Teja TV. The master copy has the complete footage of the filthy remarks made them.''

Demanding an unconditional apology from the film personalities, they wanted them to withdraw the remarks on the same television channel. "If they fail to do so, we will intensify our agitation.''

Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee, condemning the vicious verbal attack on journalists, demanded that the film personalities voluntarily withdraw their statements immediately. "The film industry could have avoided this unpleasant development,'' the APCC media convener, T. Sammi Reddy said here today.

The Andhra Pradesh Journalists' Union demanded that the State Government put an end to the attacks by the Telugu film industry on journalists. "The efforts of the film industry to silence the power of pen with their money and muscle power is reprehensible,'' the union president, T. Ramesh Babu, and general secretary, R. Rama Krishna, said in a statement here.

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