Chandigarh, 2 October(Wishav Warta): Today Chandigarh Press club joins All-India protest against the killing and threat to journalists. Over 100 journalists, covering Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, both from print and electronic, participated in the protest to express solidarity with their fellow colleagues who sacrificed their lives while performing duty. At the protest, the journalists also formed a human chain, a wide array of issues ranging from the importance of the fourth pillar in a democratic country to the role of the government, both the states and the Centre, in ensuring the safety of journalists were discussed.
“Intolerance is the dominant theme today and it’s backed by empirical data. Hate mails, SMSs are the routine trend. (Narendra) Modi is following 46 people accused of sending hate mails on a regular basis. People take this as endorsement to the fact. We have gathered here to protect the democracy. It is time to take a stand and the Press must stay united,” said veteran journalist Vipin Pubby.
“Journalists have to be conscious of their own safety. Safety on duty is an important part of a journalist’s skill set; though there is no second thought that law and order has to be maintained by the government machineries,” said Ashok Malik, former vice-president of National Union of Journalists India.
“Around two decades ago, a journalist’s voice was considered and weighed with great respect, but now we have an atmosphere where anything against anybody leads to attacks on the person. We need a new law to tackle such kind of situations,” said Vinod Kohli, president, Chandigarh Punjab Journalists Union. “Often, the journalists have to face court cases long after they have reported something,” added Avtar Singh, a president of Chandigarh Journalist Association.
Chandigarh Press Club Senior Vice-President Saurabh Duggal, who moderated the session, said, “It’s unfortunate that the common man is jailed for liking Facebook posts that are critical of the government but the killers of journalists roam free.”
Club President Jaswant Rana added that it was important to ensure that journalists maintain unity and the club would always stand by journalists, who must never feel that they are alone.
