KOCHI: Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, who has been at loggerheads with the Left government, got into another controversy after he asked representatives of two television news channels -- MediaOne TV, operated by Madhyamam Broadcasting, and CPM-backed Kairali TV -- to leave from attending a news conference he called in Kochi.
"Get out from here," Khan said after newspersons including the reporters from MediaOne and Kairali arrived at the Ernakulam Guest House following an invite from the Raj Bhavan for the news briefing. Before beginning his news briefing, the governor asked if there were representatives from MediaOne and Kairali. "I do not want to speak to you," he said, accusing MediaOne of targetting him on his stand on the Shah Bano case while Kairali gave "wrong news against him" and despite requests from the Raj Bhavan to correct the error the channel did not rectify it.
When reporters asked if his stand to boycott the two TV channels amounted to "intolerance", Khan retorted by saying it was their "interpretation". Reporters also pointed out that the list of names of news channels approved by the Raj Bhavan had the names of both MediaOne and Kairali, the governor said he would look into if there was an oversight on the part of Raj Bhavan.
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Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan termed the Governor's stand "undemocratic". He said the Congress-backed Jai Hind TV channel was not even allowed entry while MediaOne and Kairali were asked to go out. "The governor and others who hold high positions should refrain from doing things that lower the dignity of those posts," Satheesan said.
Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) termed the governor's stand "wrong" and asked him to withdraw the ban on the news channels. "This is not good for a democratic setup like ours," said KUWJ, "There may be a difference of opinion between the state government and the governor, but the media should not be dragged into the tussle," said the KUWJ statement.