As India is celebrating its 74th Independence Day today, several journalists on Twitter started a conversation on the "independence of media".
This came after the incidents of alleged assault on journalists in Delhi and Bengaluru and various cases filed by the police on journalists across India.
As several journalists started posting their thoughts on the issue, #StopMediaLockdown started trending on Twitter.
The Caravan magazine on Tuesday claimed that three of its journalists, including a woman, were assaulted by a mob in northeast Delhi, where they had gone to report on the riots that had taken place in February.
Former NDTV journalist Nidhi Razdan wrote, "On this Independence Day, let us remember the value of an independent press. Attacks on journalists, intimidation of the media is not acceptable. Say yes to a free press. #IndependenceDay #StopMediaLockdown (sic)."
"Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air #StopMediaLockdown (sic)," wrote journalist and writer Rana Ayyub.
Check out the reactions here:
Recently, the Editors Guild of India termed as "reprehensible" the separate incidents of assault on journalists in Delhi and Bengaluru and demanded that police authorities must quickly take necessary steps to initiate action against the guilty in both the cases.
In a statement, the guild "unequivocally condemned" the recent attacks on journalists while they were on duty.
"Three journalists working with The Caravan were allegedly assaulted while they were in northeast Delhi’s North Ghonda neighbourhood on August 11 to report on a complainant in the recent communal violence case in the capital," the Guild said.
They also say they were subjected to communal slurs, threatened with murder and sexually harassed, it alleged.
"On the same day in Bengaluru, as many as four journalists belonging to India Today, The News Minute and Suvarna News 24X7 were reportedly attacked by the city police," the Guild said.
(With inputs from PTI)
