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On
the morning of March 10, journalists in Tamil
Nadu, including senior
editors, participated in a demonstration in Chennai
and all the district
headquarters. The agitation, where media persons
marched with black cloth tied on their mouth and
holding pens aloft, expressed anguish at the state
government's attempts to gag the media.
Of
late, a series of oppressive measures against
journalists have been taken by the Tamil Nadu
government in an attempt to muzzle the media.
Even the faintest suggestion of constructive criticism
meets with strong government reactions. It has
become a common practice for the administration
to launch defamation suits against media organisations
and journalists. It is getting increasingly difficult
to give people real information.
Already,
'The Hindu' is facing five cases of defamation,
'Dinakaran' is
facing seven cases, 'The Statesman' five
cases, and 'Dinamalar', 'Dinamani',
'New Indian Express' and 'Junior Vikatan'
are facing two cases each. There have also been
a series of police raids and arrests against the
staff of the Tamil magazine `Nakkeeran',
which do not seem to follow the book of law.
When
the AIADMK was in power the last time, during
1991-96, over 100
defamation cases were filed against media organisations
and journalists. All these cases were withdrawn
at one stroke just before the elections for
obvious reasons.
The
anti-press attitude of the government often reflects
on the behaviour of
the ruling party members towards journalists,
as was seen during the recent Sattankulam Assembly
byelection, when chappals and stones were hurled
at reporters who had gone there to cover the event.
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