A round table attended by senior journalists and journalists’ associations condemned the indecent words used by Director General of Prisons Mr. Vinoy Kumar Singh to describe journalists, while refuting an allegation against him in a story aired by a TV channel. The meeting sought action against Mr. Singh for the remarks equating them to commercial sex workers.
The speakers, including IJU President, D. Amar, Press Academy Chairman Allam Narayana, K. Ramachandra Murthy, Editorial Director of Sakshi, Praja Paksham Editor K. Sreenivas Reddy, Nava Telangana Editor, Veeraiah, TUWJ General Secretary Virahat Ali said, the attack on media had become a norm and police officers were trying to use their powers to target media.
They also blamed unbridled powers given to police officers and said such powers were naturally misused by the officers to harass journalists who question them. Mr. Amar said the present government had given scope for such attacks on media as it also used the same tactics to silence the media.
The speakers also rued the lack of unity among journalists that is encouraging the officials to target them. Some felt that the media managements colluded with governments whenever journalists fought for their rights of free expression, exposing corruption in the system. HMTV CEO S. Sreenivas Reddy, senior journalists K. Satyanarayana, R. Shailesh Reddy, G. Anjaneyulu, Basavapunnaiah and Kondaiah were present.
