NEW DELHI – Veteran Indian journalist Sushi Chaudhry has asked Indianjournalists to learn from Pakistan.
Indian journalist can learn a lot from their counterparts in Pakistan, saidZee News Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary in the channel’s prime time newsshow Daily News And Analysis (DNA).
The veteran journalist’s comments came in response to the Congress partyattacking independent media and its editors on two recent occasions.
In the first instance, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi had called senior editorSmita Prakash a “pliable journalist” over her New Year’s Eve interview ofPrime Minister Narendra Modi. In the second instance at the same event, theGandhi scion alluded to a press conference of Navjyot Singh Sidhu whereinthe Punjab minister had unceremoniously threatened Zee News by saying “naniyaad dila denge”.
The channel had later issued a Rs 1000 crore defamation notice to Sidhu forhis defamatory and false allegations against the news channel.
In the special DNA show aired on January 3, Chaudhary referred to a recentpress conference held by Pakistani minister for water resources FaisalVawda over the bid of Rs 309 billion Mohmand Dam.
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A senior journalist from Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper questioned thetransperancy of the bid. Irked by the question, Vawda replied, “I am onlyanswering the question because you are my elder. If this was someone else,I would not have answered.”
The reply prompted an immediate reaction from journalists present at theevent, who later staged a walkout despite the minister apologising to theconcerned person.
Referring to this incident, Zee News Editor-in-Chief said the members ofIndian media fraternity too need to support their peers, especially whenpoliticians go after journalists.
