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'Asianet News is in an enviable position... Kerala govt must take a step back and assess'

"There are times when a wrong political decision gets taken. But it is even worse when you realise it is wrong, but you persist with it for the sake of your own vanity. It is sometimes best to cut your losses and retreat," said BJP leader and senior journalist Swapan Dasgupta.

BJP leader Swapan Dasgupta speaks on Kerala government action against Asianet News
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First Published Mar 20, 2023, 5:50 PM IST

If all political parties across the board criticise a media organisation, then the latter must be doing something right, said BJP leader and senior journalist Swapan Dasgupta while taking part in a webinar that delved into the recent targetting of Asianet News Network.

In the webinar titled 'Vendetta Against Asianet News' organised by the Centre for Policy and Development Studies, Swapan Dasgupta said: "Asianet News is in this enviable position of being disliked by everybody. The responsibility of any media organisation is not to any political class; it's not to the government or the Opposition -- unless, of course, they are being bankrolled by one of the political parties. The responsibility of any media organisation is primarily to its readers or viewers, without whom the viability of the media organisation is zero. It needs its TRPs and readership. It needs popular support, which can only come if they are doing something which hits their chord and which people think is right."

He further said, "The mood of a state or a country is never constant. It shifts from time to time. Successful media organisations are those who have been able to keep a finger on the popular sentiment. But doing so is not the same as having good media coverage. There may be situations when the popular sentiment may seek the lynching of people. That doesn't mean that the media should go along with that. At any time, you have to swim against the tide. In this case, Asianet News has been at loggerheads with the Communist Party of India-Marxist. There may be historical reasons or something else. But it is the job of any political party to digest or stomach criticism, however harsh it may be. That is the price we have to pay for democracy. The political class can have the absolute and unlimited right to complain, but it has to tolerate it."

Questioning the intent of the Pinarayi Vijayan government in Kerala, the BJP leader said that the ruling party actually hit out, but the target was not confined to the organisation. Rather, it was aimed at specific journalists. "If there was a mistake on the part of Asianet News, the latter should have been approached, and the matter could have been easily resolved with an apology and a clarification. But then, to escalate matters one by one, target individual journalists and have SFI members coming and entering the premises of Asianet News and threatening staff and journalists there... to have a person charged and arrested... is completely unique. Evidently, some sort of a direction has been given that 'we must fix Asianet News'. It is that attitude that I find unacceptable."

The comments come in the backdrop of the Kerala High Court order granting anticipatory bail to Asianet News journalists, stating that journalists cannot be jailed on criminal offences for reporting the news. Kozhikode Additional District Sessions Court Judge Priya K, in her order, said: 'They are the officials of a news channel, and they are apprehending that they will be put in jail for broadcasting a news item. In a democratic country like India, which gives liberty to the fourth estate, which is the press and media, media personnel cannot be put in jail alleging criminal offences. lf at all any offence is committed by them, it can only be decided after a fair trial.'

The Asianet News journalists had applied for anticipatory bail after the Kerala Police registered a case based on a complaint filed by MLA PV Anwar against a segment of the series titled 'Narcotics is Dity Business' broadcast by Asianet News. Based on the FIR, which claimed that the news segment was fabricated, the police had carried out raids at the Asianet News Kozhikode office and imposed non-bailable sections.

Highlighting the contribution of the Fourth Estate in a state like Kerala, Swapan Dasgupta said, "In Kerala, media plays a very important role. Here the printed word and the spoken word matter quite a lot. It is that sort of society. It's based on considerable literacy, discussion, etc., which play a very important role. In this sort of situation, if the state government adopts an attitude that they must declare war against a particular organisation, then it becomes completely unacceptable. And it becomes incumbent that you enlarge the battle from a battle against one media organisation into a battle against media as a whole. I don't think the CPI-M will want the media, as a whole, to battle against the state government,"

The veteran journalist urged the state government to take a step back and withdraw the cases lodged against Asainet News journalists.

"There are times when a wrong political decision gets taken. But it is even worse when you realise it is wrong, but you persist with it for the sake of your own vanity. It is sometimes best to cut your losses and retreat. Sometimes, the media and government get at loggerheads but let it be temporary. The moment you make it into a permanent grudge, various complications start developing that is not good either for the state government or for the relationship between the media and the government. Today, we are in a situation where, in Kerala, the government must take one step back, look into what the whole thing is all about, see if it has overstepped, and retreat. Let's get some good sense back. These cases targetting various individuals must be withdrawn," he said, while concluding his remarks at the webinar which was also attended by Asianet News Managing Editor Manoj K Das and moderated by CPDS Director Arun Lakshman.

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