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A group of writers and journalists has denounced the state government moves to stop publication of Thejas - a Malayalam daily newspaper promoted by Popular Front of India (PFI). The paper has been accused of carrying anti-national reports. |
Chaired by senior journalist K M Roy, the group also formed a common platform - Committee for the Defence of Media Freedom - to raise their opposition against the action.
The signatories of a joint statement include K Satchidanandan, B R P Bhaskar, Ashish Kothari, Appukkuttan Vallikkunnu, Dr J Devika, Damodar Prasad and G Sakthidharan.
The paper is published from 10 centres in Kerala and from Doha, Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and Bahrain.
The publishers were served with a notice by the additional district magistrates of Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram to show-cause why its declaration for publication should not be cancelled.
The order, served under the Press and Registration of Books Act 1867, alleged that the newspaper has been publishing news items, editorials and articles that “seriously compromised national interests and national unity.”
The newspaper was asked to file its response on September 30 and October 3, 2013, respectively at Calicut and Trivandrum to the concerned authorities, failing which the government would proceed with further action for cancellation of the newspaper’s registration with the Registrar of Newspapers India (RNI).
Thejas was launched in Calicut on January 26, 2006, under the Intermedia Publishing Ltd management. The public limited company has a large number of shareholders who are supporters of the PFI which is facing allegations of extremism.
“The newspaper has generally taken a level-headed approach in its news reporting and editorial comments and it has never faced any allegation that it violated the principles of ethical journalism or caused damage to national unity or national interests, as alleged in the present show-cause notice,” the statement, forwarded by the publication’s editor, N P Chekutty, said.
“The show-cause notice was preceded by a series of actions on the part of the government to harass the newspaper. These included denying advertisements from the public relations department (PRD) of the Kerala government and the directorate of advertising & visual publicity (DAVP) of the central government.
“The PRD ads, which the newspaper has been receiving from 2007, were stopped without any notice from May 16, 2010. The newspaper then filed a case against the PRD and the government of Kerala against the stoppage of ads,” Chekutty said.
“The present government under (Chief Minister) Oommen Chandy, in 2011, restored the ads on condition that the case be withdrawn. But the ad ban was reimposed a few months later. Recently, the DAVP ads were also stopped,” the publication’s editor alleged.
“It is a clear case of government harassment of a newspaper. This raises a number of questions crucial to democratic practice in India and issues of media freedom and equal treatment before the law.”
