Srinagar
After the Jammu and Kashmir government announced a three-member media advisory committee to submit its recommendations for better management of media in Jammu and Kashmir, one of the three members on Thursday said that he does not believe in managing the media.
Muhammad Sayeed Malik, a veteran journalist, said that no one from the government has approached him. “Firstly, no one from the govt approached me, therefore, the question of my prior consent just does not arise,” Malik wrote on in his facebook post.
“I, honestly, don’t know how to react to a brazen sarkari atrocity, concerning me personally, that smacks of arrogance as well as incompetence,” Malik wrote.
Malik said that he does not believe in managing the media as the same amounts to manipulation to the institution of media and its independence. “Media is not supposed to be managed, internally or externally. This type of manipulation is an insult to the profession and its independence. I wish to make it clear that I have no intention to serve on the said committee.”
The veteran journalist said that he is unwilling to serve on any government panel. However, he said he is always willing to share his experience in matter relating to government-media relationship.
“For better or worse, I am disinclined to serve on any sarkari panel though I am always willing to share my experience and opinion in any matter relating to working of government-media relationship,” he wrote
Secondly, he said, “being a professional journalist, I ought to have been spared this unearned ignominy of being thought of as a party in government’s ‘management of the local media’.”
“If anything, I am always available to fight against any such ‘management’ tactics,” he concluded.
Pertinently, the Jammu and Kashmir government on Wednesday constituted a three-member advisory committee for “better management of media of the state in future”.
“Sanction is hereby accorded to the constitution of state media advisory committee, which shall examine the broader aspects of the proposed state media advisory council and shall submit its recommendations for better management of media of the state in future,” an order issued yesterday by the state government reads.
The committee has been asked to submit its recommendations within eight months.
