After ABP News’ Pankaj Jha revealed that he was threatened by some extremists for his coverage of the Kasganj riots, another editor from the channel, Abhisar Sharma, hit out at news channels for their biased and misleading coverage of the communal clashes.
Condemning not just the violence but also the rumour mongering that followed it, Sharma, in a Facebook post, outlined falsehoods that are being spread by extremist Facebook pages such as ‘Dainik Bharat’.
Sharma said that when ABP News set out to bust these rumours - such as Muslims questioning the tricolour yatra in Kasganj – they were threatened with death and harm to their family.
Sharma, in his post, accuses a TV anchor (without naming him) of fuelling rumours further by broadcasting them as facts.
According to a translation by The Wire, Sharma accused the anchor of raising the following questions:
Focussing particularly on the third statement – ‘Who are the real enemies of the tricolour in Kasganj?’ – Sharma says that although Kasganj’s DM has publicly stated that no permission had been taken for the yatra to be conducted, the anchor had gone ahead to declare a specific community as Paksitani.
This, when in actuality, even Muslims were seen waving the tricolour as part of the procession, as substantiated by photos as well IG Thakur’s statement to the effect.
When reports against the falsehoods emerged, there was no apology from the said news channel for their misleading coverage, says Sharma. In fact, the channel also sent out a reporter to Kasganj to file a ground report, which was effectively against its older report, he says, questioning the channel’s integrity.
Blaming the channel for orchestrating a make-believe protest in Kasgnaj against the tricolour by Muslims, Sharma says that the hatred sown by the anchor “will be reaped by anybody who is touched by it.”
Further questioning the channel on whose vested interests does it promote through such rumours, Sharma said:
Sharma clarifies that though communal clashes can be hard to cover, it is the duty of news channels to not bow down to the majoritarian opinion that wants the media to declare the other community as “eternal villains.”
He then blames the channel of not just speaking in the interest one community, but as the unofficial mouthpiece of a political party.
Slamming the anchor for his perceived idea of ‘patriotism’, Sharma questions his intent behind diverting the narrative from crucial issues like farmers’ woes towards the clashes.
Sharma ends his post by saying that while furthering the interests of extremist groups that are slowly making it to the political mainstream, the channel is only putting the lives of Indians in jeopardy.
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