Kochi: Reporter Broadcasting Company Managing Director Anto Augustine has condemned the police action at the company’s headquarters in Kalamassery, alleging that the operation disrupted newsroom functioning and amounted to an assault on press freedom.
In an official statement issued on September 16, Augustine said a Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by the Thrikkakara ACP entered the newsroom around 5 am. He said that the raid disrupted live broadcast operations and that the mobile phones of journalists on duty were seized.
Augustine also said that journalists were filmed and intimidated and claimed that a senior police officer forcibly removed a woman journalist from her chair while she was on editorial duty and searched her desk and systems.
He said simultaneous searches were conducted at the residences of the company’s promoters in Kochi and at their ancestral home in Wayanad.
According to Augustine, the investigation relates to the proposed Messi-Argentina football event, which he said is sub judice. He maintained that the company had been cooperating with statutory authorities.
Describing the police action as an attempt to intimidate the media, Augustine said it was reminiscent of “Emergency-era tactics”. He invoked Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, saying press freedom is a fundamental right.
He demanded an apology from the Kerala Police and the state government and said Reporter TV would pursue legal remedies.
Here is the full text of the official statement issued by Anto Augustine:
Subject: Condemnation of Police Atrocity and Assault on Press Freedom at Reporter TV Headquarters
On behalf of Reporter Broadcasting Company and Reporter TV, I unequivocally condemn the shocking and high-handed police action carried out at our headquarters in Kalamassery, Kochi, in the early hours of today.
At approximately 5:00 AM, a team of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Thrikkakara, burst into our news desk — a place of work for journalists and technical staff, not the administrative block for which they claimed to have a search warrant.
For over one and a half hours, our newsroom was held under siege:
Simultaneous searches were also conducted at the residences of our promoters in Kochi and at our ancestral home in Wayanad.
We want to make it clear:
This is not a search. This is intimidation. This is administrative terror aimed at silencing a free media house that has been fearlessly reporting facts.
The case relates to the proposed Messi / Argentina football event, a matter that is sub-judice and where we have been fully cooperating with all statutory authorities, including tax authorities. To use this as a pretext to raid a newsroom at 5 AM, to enter the editorial floor, to physically remove a senior journalist from her chair, occupy her seat and seize journalists' tools of trade, is reminiscent of Emergency-era tactics. This has never happened in the history of Kerala.
A news organization's editorial floor is protected under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India. The freedom of the press is not a concession from the state; it is a fundamental right of the people.
We demand an unconditional apology from the Kerala Police and the State Government and assurance that no coercive action will be taken to obstruct our broadcast and journalistic work.
We have full faith in the judiciary. We will pursue all legal remedies available to us.
Reporter TV will not be cowed down. We will continue to report, to question, and to stand with the people. No amount of intimidation will stop us from doing our duty as the Fourth Pillar of democracy.
We appeal to the national media fraternity, the Press Club of India, Editors Guild of India, and all defenders of democracy to condemn this despicable assault on press freedom.
Anto AugustineManaging DirectorReporter Broadcasting Company Pvt. Ltd.