The Hindu : National : Editors Guild secretary-general quits

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Sunday, Apr 24, 2005

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National

Editors Guild secretary-general quits

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The secretary-general of the Editors Guild of India, Om Thanvi, tendered his resignation on Saturday in protest against the "manner" in which the breakfast meeting of the Editors with the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, was organised on Monday last.

Questioning the guild president, M.J. Akbar's style of functioning, Mr. Thanvi sought to know the criteria on which some individuals were invited to the meeting. "I am not sure if anybody else apart from you knows the criteria. ... The selections made have set off a number of controversies with which I have been confronted by the members but I had no explanation," he added. Mr. Akbar, he said, did not think it fit to "consult even his secretary-general" while drawing up the list of invitees.

In his letter, Mr. Thanvi raised several questions on why certain individuals were invited and others left out. "Why were there two Editors from a single magazine? Why was there no invitee from an important newspaper group like the Anand Bazar Patrika? Why was the proprietor of a leading English daily invited and not the editor of that paper who is an old member of our Guild? And, finally, one TV channel was allowed, presumably by you, to do a live telecast of the breakfast meeting with General Musharraf to the exclusion of all other channels, including Doordarshan," he said. Mr. Thanvi said the manner in which the breakfast meeting was organised and managed was representative of Mr. Akbar's style of functioning. "You seem to function as if all the authority of the guild vests in you as president and, therefore, feel no need to consult anybody, including the guild's secretary-general who ought to be in the know of matters."

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