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| Muzzling press can delay flow of news but cannot block it | | | Gareeb Dass
Jammu | Aug 4
Normalcy has been restored to Jammu.It is peace in Jammu.How it has been possible when several lakhs of people had taken to the streets to protest against revocation of the order under which 800 kanals of land had been transferred to the Amarnath Shrine Board for setting up prefabricated tents for the pilgrims for a specific period of two months.The state administration found a very quick solution for restoring peace to Jammu.Just in one stroke everything was normal in Jammu except happiness.The state administration swung into action and sealed the offices of the two local eletronic news channels.The two channels were banned to operate.The result was total blackout for several lakhs of people in Jammu and adjoining areas.Only those who had dish antennas could view programmes and news telecasts from series of TV channels.
As a result of the blackout people in Jammu could not know whether the Bandh has been extended or not.They could not know whether the curfew restrictions have been relaxed or not.People in Jammu had not knowledge whether there had been any incident of curfew violation or not.They had no access to news to know whether there was any incident of violence.And people banked on rumours.When people have to satiate their hunger for news they have to depend on rumours when there is either censorship or a muzzled press.
People in the state have never experienced censorship or attempts at gagging the freedom of the press since 1975 when emergency was imposed in the entire country.At that time top journalists were arrested and sent to the jails.But thnaks to the then Chief Minister,Sheikh Abdullah,who was liberal and did not impose severe curbs on the freedom of the press.Jammu and Kashmir was the only state in India where not a single newsman was arrested.Yes,some communists and leaders belonging to Jamait-e-Islami and the saffron Brigade besides leaders of state Government employees Association had been jailed.
The incidents of beating and restricting the movement of newsmen in Jammu in recent days had been unfortunate.The biggest tragedy has been the sealing of the offices of the two premier TV channels that had the sole right of relaying various programmes from the national television companies. These two TV channels would feed the people with minute to minute developments in the Jammu region.By doing this the TV channels had left no scope for rumour mongers to sell their fabricated stories.Unfortunately the state authorities seem to have preferred rumour to reality.The District Magistrate in his order has stated that the two local news channels have been banned on the charge of telecasting news reports based on half truth.Have these authorities ever bothered to brief the media about the real situation and the events.Certainly not.The state authorities should have discussed with the owners of the two TV channels about the do's and dont's as far as telecasting the news reports were concerned.They did not do it.
The most disturbing factor has been the poor knowledge of people in Jammu about the functioning of electronic news channels at the national level.The result of this ignorance was that a number of reporters serving in these national TV channels received threats from diehard agitators that their activities and slogan shouting exercise did not find place in the news channels.Several reporters explained to those who issued threats on the phone that since Jammu continued to reel under 12 to 15 hour power cut they should not expect reports from Jammu to be telecast whenever they could switch on their TVs.They refused to listen to reason as they could not understand that national TV channels cannot keep on telecsting Jammu events for all the 24 hours when there have been incidents of bigger consequences than in Jammu.The state administration should know two things.One,by muzzling press you can delay circulation of news,you cannot scuttle it.Secondly,by blocking operation in the cable network you are simply allowing a chance for the youth to take to the streets for rationalising their frustration and anger. |
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