The Delhi Union of Journalists(DUJ) condemns the raids by the Enforcement Directorate on the office of online portal Newsclick and the homes of its owner editor Prabir Purkayastha, editor Pranjal and human resources head Amit Chakravarty earlier today.
Newsclick has been providing a platform to leading investigative journalists like Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and bold video journalist Abhisar Sharma, P.Sainath -among others. It has also been reporting extensively on the farmers’ agitation for the past two months. It has established itself as a different voice with news and analysis of national and international affairs.
We view these raids as a serious attack on the online media and the freedom of the press. Coming in the wake of the filing of sedition charges against several senior journalists last week and government moves to curb free speech on Twitter and YouTube, the raids are ominous. The aim is clearly to intimidate and browbeat independent and critical voices that disagree with the government on contemporary issues.
DELHI UNION OF JOURNALISTS
S.K.Pande, President
Sujata Madhok, General Secretary
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The Delhi Union of Journalists has done well to raise its voice against the government actions targeted at yet another media organization Newsclick, a media organization known for its many-sided courageous comments and exposures as well as its consistency in extending support to struggles of farmers and workers. In addition it has contributed much to several issues of wider national interest in areas of health, education and protection from exploitative tendencies of multinational companies and related international forces of inequality and injustice to developing countries. There are very few media organizations which consistently give importance and adequate space to such issues of great and increasing importance. If the objective of atma nirbharta or self reliance is understood in its proper sense, then there is much in Newsclick journalism that contributes to it. Newsclick with its print and video journalism in English and Hindi thus fills an important gap in national media and any targeting of such a media organization thus damages our overall media strength and capability. In addition Newsclick has contributed several insightful and important articles on issues of increasing world-level importance like disarmament, elimination of weapons of mass destruction and climate change from time to time. Hence more journalists and journalist organizations should join the Delhi Union of Journalists against any targeting of Newsclick and organizations like the Newsclick which are critical of the ruling regime but at the same time are fulfulling an important media role at national and international levels. –Bharat Dogra