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| Govt's new technique for muzzling press freedom | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Mar 30: It is after a long time that the state Government has opted for "muzzling press freedom" through its lopsided advertisement release policy. In the game of "throttling" press freedom the Department of Information has been playing a key role. Instead of cultivating newsmen and the editors and owners of newspapers published within the state the Information Department functionaries have been seen issuing threats of stoppage of advertisement if the press releases. Issued by the Department, were not published on page one.
A news item critical of the functioning of the Government, even if based on facts, is as good as a red rag to the bull. The top bull in the Department roars and rants and issues immediate instructions to the concerned officials in the Department to see that particular newspapers were denied advertisements. Another instruction is to release Government advertisements to "unfriendly" but "objective" newspapers in small doses, not more than a few centimeters.
When one largely circulated newspaper management complained about the raw deal being given to the newspaper by the Department of Information by releasing limited advertisements the top brass in the Department avoided responding to the complaint. He had no other alternative but to remain mum because he was wrong. And when the newspaper management conveyed to him in writing that on the basis of circulation, content and readership figures the newspaper deserved adequate advertisement backup in case the Government wanted to get the advertisements largely circulated. The Director felt insulted. He was right because as head of the Department he was infallible, he was invaluable, he was impartial. These are some of the qualities that the Director Information is supposed to have.
But the man who heads the Department was so much peeved by the communication from a newspaper that he ordered that no Government advertisement be released to the newspaper. Some of the advertisers from different Government departments had, while forwarding the advertisements to the Department of Information, conveyed to the office their choice of newspapers in which they wished to see their advertisements published. In fact these Government Departments had indicated their choice only to ensure that their advertisements got wide publicity. Ironically the Director Information saw to it that the newspaper that had second largest circulation in Jammu and Kashmir was denied the advertisement support. One should not blame the Director Information because he is yet to realise whether he was dealing with newsmen or with the litant public when he was the Deputy Commissioner Budgam.
The Director Information cannot be faulted because he is seen usually flying on the wings of poesy. As a poet and writer of excellence he is seen always lost in his thoughts, thoughts that are abstract and that are cosmic in nature. You could not have expected Ghalib or Mir or Paulo Coelho, or Charles Dickens or for that matter Gulzar or Javed Akhtar to be successful administrators. The Director is not a votary of freedom of press. He is for freedom of ideas, freedom of thought, freedom of being choosy, freedom of being partial. He wants freedom for ignoring what good PR man means. He has every right to throttle press freedom and newsmen because he has the total backing of the Chief Minister, who like his grandfather, Sheikh Abdullah, and unlike his father, Dr Farooq Abdullah, believes in keeping newsmen at an arms length.
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