KL News Network
SRINAGAR
After the recently held elections, Kashmir Editors Guild (KEG) had a marathon meeting of its members on Wednesday that President Fayaz Ahmad Kaloo presided.The meeting attended by all the office bearers and the executive committee discussed various issues confronting the media as an institution. Members reiterated their concern that the ban on one of its members, the Kashmir Reader, has not been revoked and it lays locked for more than two months now. The Guild asked the government to lift the ban immediately so that it can resume its publication at the earliest.
All members participated by identifying the issues that the media is facing as an institution and it was unanimously decided that these issues concerning the fraternity will be tackled as per their priority they entail.
Members asked the office bearers to involve all the stake-holders in tackling the critical issues involving different spheres of activities from news-gathering to eventual dissemination of it.
They also said that while for decades media has upheld the highest degree of objectivity in reporting Kashmir, the media itself has remained a story of neglect as it lacked a voice of its own. The Guild will have to fill this vacuum, they said.
Members also took a serious note of lack of media related infrastructure and the absolute absence of any welfare system available for the media fraternity.
The president while taking note of all the suggestions assured the Guild members that his team will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that media as institution is strengthened. He said all stakeholders will be taken on board in making media growth an all-inclusive and a vibrant exercise.
“The media will continue to maintain the highest degree of ethics and objectivity,” he said.
The meeting decided to create the necessary corpus for running the Guild. While members will continue to contribute towards the Guild kitty by way of membership, the members can also contribute beyond what is mandatory. Greater Kashmir contributed Rs 5 lakh to the Guild account. Kashmir Images, Kashmir Life and Kashmir Monitor contributed Rs 20,000 each.
