Not an Investigation or Search, But a Warning to Media to Remain Subservient to Govt : M. Swaraj on Police Raid at Reporter TV

Thiruvananthapuram: CPI(M) state secretariat member M Swaraj has condemned the police action at Reporter TV's office, describing it as an excessive use of power carried out in the name of an investigation.

Swaraj said it was unprecedented for police officers to sit in the editor's chair and disrupt the functioning of a news desk under the pretext of a search. He said the use of hooliganism or terror by the police would not make such actions legitimate.

“This is neither an investigation nor a search. It is a warning to the media,” Swaraj said. He alleged that the action was intended to warn media organisations to remain subservient to the government and praise it.

Swaraj also referred to a statement allegedly made by a prominent UDF leader during the Assembly election campaign that Reporter TV would be shut down if the UDF came to power.

“Disagreement and criticism should not be expressed in this manner. A case and search proceedings should not be carried out by taking over a news desk,” he said.

Swaraj condemned what he described as the excessive use of police power at Reporter TV in the name of an investigation. He also protested against what he described as the UDF government's degrading actions aimed at imposing an undeclared Emergency in Keralam and intimidating media organisations into submission.