Political scientist Brian Klaas says “It’s a tried and true playbook… for leaders who do not want to take criticism, and instead of trying to correct the narrative they simply try to shoot the messenger, so to speak, and demonize the press.”
Some MIC youth members took it a step further and physically assaulted Tamil Malar’s owner OHMS Thiagarajan and editor-in-chief K Saraswathy for reporting about missing rental collections of the party’s state office building.
This is not the first time that the MIC has been linked to abusing journalists. And the recent attacks show the party’s deepening assault on critical journalism.
This is dangerous and contributes to the already stifling atmosphere and rapidly shrinking space in the country for journalists to work in.
Deputy Youth and Sports Minister M Saravanan must take responsibility for the physical assault on Tamil Malar journalists and owner as it were his “boys” who had turned up at the daily’s office.
If the paper had practised biased journalism or gross negligence, Saravanan could have taken up the matter in the courts.
Freedom of the media is crucial for a successful democracy because it enables the free flow of information and ideas. Without it, people would not be able to make informed decisions.
Freedom of expression is a universal human right and the media is the public’s watchdog.
And it is up to each and every one of us, including the MIC men, to uphold the independence and sanctity of the media.
Journalists are expressing the right to freedom of expression in their day-to-day working life. And many do it at a huge cost.
There are currently 135 journalists in detention and eleven cases of impunity for murder, worldwide. One was shot dead just this morning in Banglore India.
And they were merely doing their jobs just like Saraswathy and her team of reporters.
As such, the police must act without fear or favour to send a strong signal to those who believe they can get away with threatening, harassing or abusing media workers.