Recognise media as integral part of governance structure: Editors Guild to govt, police

Condemning the police action against an editor of a Gujarati portal and a reporter of an English newspaper, the Editors Guild of India on Wednesday (May 13) asked the government and police to recognise that media is an "integral part" of the governance structure in any democracy.

It said it was concerned about the growing pattern of misuse of criminal laws to "intimidate" journalists in different parts of the country.

Referring to the slapping of sedition charges on Gujarati news portal 'Face of Nation' editor Dhaval Patel for publishing a report that Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani could be changed over COVID-19 handling, it said this was a "misuse" of special laws like Disaster Management Act, sedition and Indian Penal Code.

Rupani has been facing criticism over his handling of the coronavirus situation and the report suggested that the central BJP leadership was unhappy the way the situation evolving in Gujarat.

The second instance of "egregious and high-handed action" has come from Delhi Police, the Editors Guild said referring to the notice sent to Indian Express reporter Mahender Singh Manral and City Editor for reporting about the probe possibly finding out that the audio clip of Tablighi Jamaat chief Maulana Saad has been doctored.

Manral and the City Editor were asked to join the probe on May 10.

"While Manral was not charged under any law, he was threatened that failure to join the probe could result in legal action under Section 174 of the IPC with punishment of a prison term and fine. This appears to be a little more than a fishing expedition to try and extract the journalist's source and, thus, warn other reporters," the statement said.

Recently, government think-tank Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD) has withdrawn a manual on identifying and investigating fake news from its website after it had depicted the audio clip of Tablighi Jamaat chief as fake news.