FROM THE ARCHIVES
between one journalist and another or care for which media house they represent; they paint all media with the same brush. To them, all media are biased.
Later that week, I went with two other journalists to meet Mr. Gandhi. I shared my experience with him and said that it was unfair of him to have said what he did, especially since we reporters from different publications had travelled to Nandurbar to cover the yatra, much like how we cover the rallies and yatras of other political parties. He understood our concerns. During the INDIA bloc rally in Mumbai, just two days later, he refrained from directing his criticism towards the media.
To be sure, it is not just Opposition leaders who do this. In Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy often targets media houses by denting their credibility in the eyes of the public. In Telangana, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, when he was in power from 2014 to 2023, also employed a similar tactic to incite the crowd. Some leaders don’t allow journalists from certain media houses to attend their press conferences, and if they do, they do not allow reporters to ask questions. Such practices do not suit a democracy.
The primary duty of a journalist is to inform the public about events on the ground that affect their daily lives. As the country gears up for the Lok Sabha elections, it is hoped that the leaders of all political parties will minimise their diatribe against journalists and instead use their rallies to announce policies, promises, and explain why the people should vote for them instead of their opponents.
FIFTY YEARS AGO
MARCH 29, 1974
New Delhi, March 28: The Central
Government today issued a notification under Section 51 of the Union Territories Act, 1963, dissolving the Pondicherry Assembly and suspending the operation of the relevant provisions of the Act relating to Pondicherry’s governance through the local Legislature, which in effect amounts to the imposition of President’s rule. The notification was issued by the Home Ministry after the Union Cabinet accepted the recommendation of the Lt. Governor, Mr. Chhedi Lal, for the dissolution of the Assembly, since there was no hope of an alternative Ministry being formed after the fall of the Anna DMKCPI coalition Government.
Rangoon, March 27: Today was the last day of this session of the Legislative Council. On its reassembling this morning a Nationalist member brought to the notice of the President what he called a scandal caused by the arrest yesterday under Civil warrant of a member in the Council hall without the permission of the President or the Secretary and asked whether such action was permissible in the precincts of the Council Chamber.