SRINAGAR — Breaking silence after five days, the Kashmir Press Club on Thursday condemned the registration of an FIR against two Kashmir-based news portals for running a story on a school in Shopian in south Kashmir.
In a statement issued here, the KPC management committee and executive members expressed concern over harassment of journalists and news organisations by filing cases against them.
“The Club wants to make it clear that a free and vibrant media is key to the survival of democratic set-up. Instead of going ahead with the complaint or the registration of the case, the concerned authorities through a standard procedure should have sought clarification from the news websites in question if at all there was any factual inaccuracy in their stories. But no such procedure was followed and instead a case was filed,” the statement said.
“This authoritative approach apparently shows a deliberate attempt to pressurize journalists,” the statement added.
The Club has urged the authorities to withdraw the FIR against the media organisations and the journalists concerned.
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