NEW DELHI: The Editors Guild of India (EGI) has demanded withdrawal of Kashmir Police’s advisory forbidding journalists from reporting live encounters. Calling the advisory of Kashmir Police draconian and undemocratic, the EGI said that this was an attempt to escape the media scrutiny.
“…Live reporting from conflict areas, is one of the most important journalistic duties of any responsible media, and requires extreme grit and determination on the part of reporters,” it added.Journalists can be instead given guidelines to protect integrity of tactics and plans of security agencies — norms adopted by other governments, it said.
“At best, there may be some guidelines that can be issued with respect of reporting from such scenes, with the aim of protecting the integrity of tactics and plans of security agencies, as well as to avoid journalists from interfering with the evolving situation and from sensationalising the issue that can stir up emotions at audience’s end. Globally those have been the norms adopted by governments,” the EGI said. “The advisory is draconian and undemocratic, and flies in the face of the stellar role journalists have played in reporting conflict in the country, Therefore, it must be withdrawn,” it added.