Editorial
Waiver on journalists' movement
Implementation on the ground sorely missed
SORDID tales abounded of journalists being harassed on their way back home on the first night of the curfew and the following morning when they set out for their work places.
Microbuses and three-wheelers going to pick them up from their residences yesterday were stopped on the way which was not unexpected in the present situation but the mind boggling thing was the drivers in some cases were harassed and manhandled and forced to go back to their points of origin. This happened despite press identity being strapped in bold letters across the bonnets of transports and the journalists themselves showing their identity cards on demand. Some journalists despite revealing their identity, were even detained in police stations before being let off at late hours. The attitude and body language were clearly uncooperative and even hostile, to put it mildly. Of course, some law-enforcers were more abrasive than others. Such reports need to be gone into by the higher authorities to avert repetition.
Those law enforcers did all this in clear violation of government instructions allowing free movement of journalists along with that of certain essential service people having been repeatedly broadcast over radio and TV. The newspapers had also carried the waiver list prominently.
For some inexplicable reasons, the government instructions apparently did not permeate the lower levels where it matters most or that the wayward acted individually in an arrogant manner. One wonders what is the point in disseminating government directives if these do not reach the operatives on the ground who are meant to implement them.
Such unexpected and unwarranted highhandedness of some law enforcers towards journalists can only affect the image of the government negatively. In allowing the journalists to move freely in discharge of their duties at a time like this is all the more important for the government and the public to be kept informed of what's happening. The present situation and the post-flood perspective add a compelling dimension to the right to information.
A PID handout yesterday reiterated in categorical terms that identity cards of journalists issued by their respective offices will be treated as curfew pass. There should not be any more ambiguity on this point. We hope effective steps will be taken so that journalists are not harassed any further.
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