The foundation hoped that those in positions of authority and administrative responsibility use their time and resources better than taking away the livelihood of journalists doing their job.
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — DIGIPUB News India Foundation, a body established with the intent to help ensure the creation of a healthy and robust news ecosystem for the digital age, on Tuesday strongly condemned Union Minister Smriti Irani’s castigation of reporter Vipin Yadav in Amethi, recently.
The action led to the Dainik Bhaskar newspaper dissociating itself from Yadav, and firing their stringer Rashid Hussain on 9 June 2023, a statement issued here said.
“A video showed Ms. Irani admonishing Yadav after he asked her a few times to give a quote to the reporters waiting to hear from her for a long time. The minister said she would take the matter up with the owners of the Dainik Bhaskar. Not only was Ms. Irani’s attitude to the reporter indefensible, her words, ‘I will call your newspaper’, are proof of the Indian government’s contempt for journalistic freedom, demonstrably mitigated in the past few years,” the statement said.
This incident, it said, shows the dismal condition of stringers and reporters working in India’s two and three-tier cities, “who are often unpaid and treated like throwaways by the media outlets they provide coverage. It also exposes the ease with which legacy media institutions show deference to those in authority,” the statement said.
In light of the evident power imbalance in this incident, it said DIGIPUB condemns the intimidation by a union minister of a journalist, the capitulation of a large media organisation, and the callous disregard for the life-changing consequences of their actions.
The body hoped that those in positions of authority and administrative responsibility use their time and resources better than taking away the livelihood of journalists doing their job.
It also hoped legacy media organisations like Dainik Bhaskar learn not to bend to the will of those in power and stand by their reporters when they need them the most.
