Is it right to blame Punya Prasun Bajpai?

07 December, 2012

The recent arrest of Zee News and Zee business editors Sudhir Chaudhry and Sameer Ahluwaliya respectively, has badly affected the credibility of the news gathering, especially of the TV channels in the country, and it will take years to gain the trust of public again.

THE ARREST of both the editors, although is not a new thing in the media world, as top media moguls like Rupert Murdoch have also faced the legal implications for involvement in phone hacking, police bribery, and exercising improper influence in the pursuit of publishing stories.

The much-hyped and decried legal confinement of Julian Assange is not a hidden case but apart from all these cases, Assange can not be questioned for his honesty.

It has been seen that Sudhir and Sameer's arrest is being discussed by every journalist on the social networking websites as if they have committed a heinous crime, which has no parallels. Also the suave journalist Punya Prasun Bajpai has not been spared for comparing the arrest of the duo with the days of Emergency.

The issue is not that serious as it has been made to be. Sudhir and Sameer are only the faces. They were doing their duty like managing editors, whose duty is to manage everything for the company in which they work. They have done nothing wrong in the eyes of journalistic ethics. We have been committing errors by simply identifying them as journalists. So understanding them journalists is utter foolishness and nothing else and the wastage of time.

Coming back to Mr Bajpai, who has been questioned for defending Sudhir and Sameer, it seems that these are only attempts to tarnish his image, honesty, dedication and major contribution he has made in the field of electronic media. Mr Bajpai did what he should have done. He is not a freelancer. He was just doing his duty while doing the show 'Badi Khabar' where he compared the arrest with Emergency days.