"To Cover Protests Is A Media Responsibility:" Editors Guild On FIR Against Kerala Journalist (image:facebook.com/vineetha.ambady)
Editors Guild of India (EGI) expressed on Friday that they are “deeply disturbed” by the Kerala Police”s registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against VG Vineetha, a reporter of the Malayalam television channel 24 News, in connection with her coverage of student protests on December 10. In their statement Guild appealed the Government of Kerala to abstain from punishing the reporter for performing her official duty.
It was on last week the Kuruppampady police registered a case against VG Vineetha for reporting the incident of hurling shoes at a bus in which Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and some of his cabinet colleagues were travelling. The incident occurred during Nava Kerala Sadas, a government”s outreach programme on December 10. When a protest organised by the Kerala Students Union (KSU), a student wing of the Congress is underway, a shoe was allegedly thrown at a bus in which Chief Minister was travelling and case at first registered against four individuals associated with the organisation. On December 22, police added Vineetha as the fifth accused and booked her for criminal conspiracy under section 120 B of the Indian Penal Code. Following, a notice has been issued to her to appear for interrogation.
EGI is deeply disturbed by the registration of an FIR by the Kerala police against a news reporter in connection with her coverage of a students” protest on Dec 10. Guild urges the Govt of Kerala to desist from punishing the reporter for discharging her professional duty. pic.twitter.com/1hIo8rjcXt
— Editors Guild of India (@IndEditorsGuild) December 29, 2023
Editors Guild in the statement added though it does not condone any act of violence, but deplores the police action against the reporter in strongest words.
“To cover protests is a media responsibility and is no crime. A reporter”s presence at a protest site does not make him or her complicit in any untoward incident that may have occurred,” EGI added.
Urging the government to refrain from punishing the reporter for undertaking professional duty, the guild also instructed the police to revoke charges against the reporter, and “uphold norms of press freedom”.
