Udhampur Journalists stage silent protest against “media gag” by District Administration
Udhampur, June 14, 2021: Journalists in Udhampur District of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday staged a silent protest against what they say has been a “media gag” by District Administration Udhampur , Large number of Journalists from both Print and Electronic took out Silent Protect rally from Slathia chowk to Gole Market Udhampur st against the insensitive attitude of the administration towards media persons not allowing them to cover the Visit of MOS Dr Jatinder Singh during his visit to town a day before .
Speaking on the occasion senior journalist Pardeep Bakshi , Ramesh Gupta and Amit Mahi condemned the insensitive attitude of district administration in this regard and termed it tactic to coerce journalist and unfortunate on the part of administration for denying media to perform its role smoothly . They added that media which is fourth pillar of democracy has always helped and worked as bridge between people and administration in highlighting problems of masses and awaking people about achievements and schemes of government but the recent denial of administration to cover Jatinder Singh visit to Devika ghat has widened gap between media and administration and we condemned it and will not not cover any government function till administration apology it with media fraternity . “Journalists are already working under tremendous pressure due Corona pandemic and despite facing threats to life, liberty and property, they upheld the principles of journalism and reporting. It is quite astonishing that for the first time the media persons working in district are informed through WhatsApp message that they are not allowed to cover the Dr Jatinder Singh visit regarding reviews of on going working on Devika project which is murder of democracy and curb on media .They added that this tactics will no way help administration and if they want cordial atmosphere with media in the betterment of society discard such tactics and apology its action towards media day before .Others present in protest march were Deepankar Gupta, Ashish Dutt , Sumit sharma ,Swapnil Pachiyala , Surinder , Krishan Khajuria, Deepak Anand , Ravi Singh , Aftab Ahmed , Vikram Parihar , Baljit singh , Ashwani Sharma ,Arun Jasrotia , Ashwani Sharma ,viney sharma , Naresh Kundal , Ajay Bandral , Naresh Kumar ,Vikas Kataria , Maqbool Shah , Akash Verma , Vikram Panchi, Trolk Singh,
