With fears of losing its face in public, the Editors Guild of India finally came out with a statement, which sounds louder in backing the witch-hunt carried out by the Maharashtra government against Republic TV, than supporting it.
The guild, in its initial statement, condemns Mumbai police for filing hundreds of FIRs against Republic journalists, who are under probe for allegedly manipulating TRPs and spreading discontent against Mumbai Police.
After the initial statement, the body tries to monkey-balance and condone the witch-hunt against Republic TV, by addressing the episode as a “standoff” between Republic TV and Mumbai police.
It is not a standoff, in the first place, but a fight against injustice meted out to the channel, which is not guilty of TRP manipulation. Instead, it is India Today, which has been found guilty of the offense in the FIR and Hansa report.
Since Mumbai Police Commissioner unlawfully dragged Republic’s name into the TRP scam, it is fighting Mumbai police’s perjury. Hence, there is no question of standoff but fight against injustice.
In addition, the guild also blames Republic TV for promoting hate speech.
Hate speech? Arnab? In fact, it is the left-leaning guild members who promote hate. Can anybody forget the Delhi riots? How these members instigated Muslims against US President Donald Trump’s visit.
This is one of the incidents out of thousands wherein the guild members had indulged in spreading hate and glorifying rioters, arsonists, and squatters as peaceful protestors and misguided youths.
They did not stop at this. They sermonized about Republic TV’s credibility.
Credibility …. What credibility? In fact, they are known for peddling fake news and false narratives. Fresh in our minds is the entire coverage of Hathras incident by this gang. The girl was subject to strangulation, but they made it into a rape case.
Initially, the brother and mother of the girl had filed an assault case with Hathras police. Nowhere in the first FIR, the family members or relatives mentioned rape or gang rape.
The postmortem and Jawaharlal Nehru Medical college forensic reports also ruled out rape.
What essentially the guild is doing is, it is blaming Arnab for the witch-hunt against his channel, showing no spunk in taking on the fascist Maharashtra government, and accepting India Today’s alleged manipulation of TRP numbers.