The Hindu : Kerala News : Parties, scribes reach consensus on coverage

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Tuesday, Aug 26, 2008
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Kerala

Kerala

Parties, scribes reach consensus on coverage

Staff Reporter

To avert trouble during rallies, meetings and agitations

MALAPPURAM: Political parties and journalists reached a consensus here on Monday on how to ensure trouble-free news coverage of political rallies, meetings and agitations. The consensus was reached at a meeting of the leaders of all parties and the executive members of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) at the Government Guest House.

The meeting was convened in the wake of increasing incidence of attacks on newspersons, particularly television cameramen, during political rallies and agitations. It decided to evolve a mechanism to ensure safety of journalists covering political events. At the same time, journalists assured political leaders responsible and sensible behaviour from them within the purview of journalistic ethics while covering sensitive events. The party leaders, representing the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India (CPI), the Nationalist Congress Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Indian National League (INL), and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), said in one voice that they would consider any attack on media persons as an attack on their party.

They said they would educate their workers and ensure decent behaviour during protests and meetings. They, however, demanded that journalists irrespective of their media and allegiance do not exceed the bounds of ethics.

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