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The Editors Guild of India on Tuesday said it was "deeply concerned" about the Income Tax surveys at the offices of BBC India and termed it as a continuation of a "trend" of using government agencies to "intimidate and harass" media outlets critical of the ruling establishment. In a statement, the Guild also demanded that great care and sensitivity be shown in all such investigations so as to not undermine the rights of journalists and media organisations. The statement came after Income Tax authorities conducted a survey operation at the BBC's offices in Delhi and Mumbai as part of an investigation into alleged tax evasion. The action, it is learnt, is being carried out to investigate some international taxation and transfer pricing issues. The broadcaster said it was "fully cooperating" with the tax authorities. "The survey by the I-T department is in continuation of a trend of using government agencies to intimidate and harass press organisations that are critical of government
The Editors Guild of India on Wednesday said it was extremely disturbed by the manner in which the Delhi Police carried out searches and seizures at the homes of the editors of The Wire as well as their office and the newsroom. "The haste with which the police searches were carried out at multiple locations, is excessive and disproportionate, and in the manner of a fishing and roving enquiry," the Guild said in a statement here. The Guild also urged the Delhi Police to be objective and impartial in investigating all the complaints filed in this matter, and not use intimidatory tactics in disregard of democratic principles. The Delhi Police was acting on a complaint of criminal defamation filed by BJP functionary Amit Malviya against 'The Wire'. The Guild said as per a statement published by The Wire, the police personnel seized phones, computers, and iPads from homes of the journalists, as well as from the office, and no hash value of the digital devices was given in spite of reque
The Editors Guild of India on Friday said it was "disturbed" by the recent turn of events with respect to reports published by news portal 'The Wire' on Meta and urged newsrooms to "resist the temptation of moving fast on sensitive stories". The statement comes after The Wire retracted a series of its investigative reports claiming Meta, the parent company of social media giants -- WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram -- had accorded special privileges to BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya that enabled him to get posts removed from its platforms. The Guild also withdrew references it had made in its earlier statement to reports carried by The Wire on an app called Tek Fog after the news portal removed the said stories following "serious questions on the veracity of their reporting". "The Guild is also disturbed by the recent turn of events with respect to the reports published by the Wire on Meta. The Guild is conscious of and emphasises the need for extra care in investigative journalism,
The Editors Guild of India on Friday said it is worried that government agencies are being used as a "coercive tool" to suppress free and independent journalism. Its remarks come after the Income Tax Department's raids on Thursday across several states against prominent media group Dainik Bhaskar as well as Uttar Pradesh-based TV channel Bharat Samachar for alleged tax evasion. "The Editors Guild of India (EGI) is concerned about the income tax raids on July 22 at the offices of country's leading newspaper group Dainik Bhaskar as well as a Lucknow-based independent news channel Bharat Samachar," it said in a statement. "They come against the backdrop of in-depth reporting on the (COVID-19) pandemic by Dainik Bhaskar, which brought to the fore the gross mismanagement by government authorities and the immense loss of human lives," the guild said. It claimed that in a webinar hosted by it recently, Dainik Bhaskar's national editor Om Gaur had stated that their advertisements from ...