Editors Guild issues statement, says SC advice ‘gratuitous and unnecessary’

The Editors Guild of India released a statement on Thursday saying it was “deeply perturbed” over the government’s statement in Supreme Court this week blaming the media for the mass exodus of migrants from cities amid the COVID-19 crisis.

The government had told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that “fake and misleading news and social media” was to be blamed for the mass movement of migrants and daily wage workers.

This was a reference to the reverse migration witnessed last week in the wake of the nationwide lockdown announced by PM Narendra Modi which saw hundreds leave the capital, crowding buses arranged by the state governments and, in many cases, walking 300-400 kms to their villages.

In its order, the Supreme Court told the media to “publish the official version” of developments, even as it clarified it didn’t wish to “interfere with the free discussion about the pandemic”.

“The Guild would state in all humility that it holds the court in the highest respect, but finds this advice gratuitous and unnecessary. Blaming the media at this juncture can only undermine the current work being done by it under trying circumstances. Such charges can also obstruct in the process of dissemination of news during an unprecedented crisis facing the country,” the statement said.

“No democracy anywhere in the world is fighting the pandemic by gagging its media,” the guild statement added.

The Guild also addressed the issue of an FIR filed against the editor-in-chief of the news website The Wire, calling it “an overreaction and an act of intimidation”. “Any such intimidation of the media or blaming the media for mass migration of workers will be counterproductive. Such actions will be tantamount to disabling the messenger,” the Guild stated.

Here is the complete statement issued by the Guild: