Press freedom threatened in Kerala: Ex-Min
A similar sentiment was expressed by the Congress-led UDF that said the ruling CPM was “hunting down” media houses and reporters who criticise the state government.
Former Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadeker (PTI)
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Expressing concern over the police action against certain media houses in Kerala, former Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadeker on Wednesday said that freedom of the press was under attack in the state and accused the Left front government of “terrorising the media” for exposing its alleged wrongdoings.
A similar sentiment was expressed by the Congress-led UDF that said the ruling CPM was “hunting down” media houses and reporters who criticise the state government.
Referring to the cases registered against a woman reporter of a prominent Malayalam news channel in Kochi a few weeks ago and the recent police action against a Thiruvananthapuram-based online news channel and its employees, Javadekar alleged that those were the “first kind of terrorism against the media” in the southern state.
“This is clearly a political vendetta and an attack on freedom of the press. This is the Kerala government’s effort to terrorise the media. This is condemnable,” Javadekar told.
The statement of the BJP Kerala in-charge came amid police action against a Malayalam online news channel as part of an investigation to trace its editor following a case filed against him under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act by an MLA belonging to the ruling Left front. Police said their teams carried out searches at the offices of ‘Marunadan Malayali’ in Thiruvananthapuram and an office-cum-residence in Kochi on Monday night and seized computers and memory cards as part of their investigation to find out the whereabouts of its absconding editor, Shajan Skaria.
