There has been nearly nothing to celebrate for Kashmiris, or at least for Kashmiri media, after they were confined to their own homes on 5 August 2019, without phones, without wifi and without the internet. The Coronavirus lockdown on top of their own lockdown only compounded the misery. Naturally, the prestigious Pulitzer Prize being awarded…
Tag Archives: Kashmir
“Journalism and words will stay and survive. Censorship won’t. Memory will win”: Kashmiri journalist Gowhar Geelani booked for “unlawful activities”
The Kashmiri journalist and broadcaster Gowhar Geelani has been booked for his “posts and writings prejudicial to the national integrity, sovereignty and security of India”. Below is his response. *** “Journalists and writers are storytellers. They tell people’s stories and explain the events in a proper context and historicity with an analytical sweep. “As a…
Indian journalists have blithely “moved on”, from one spectacle to the next. Their Kashmir counterparts meanwhile continue to battle “appalling conditions”.
The following press release has been issued by Kashmir Press Club on the grim conditions for the functioning of the media in the Valley: Kashmir Press Club on Monday convened an urgent meeting to discuss physical attacks, threats, intimidation being meted out to the journalists in Kashmir by J&K Police. The meeting in which representatives…
“I feel threatened in Delhi and Kashmir. I fear for my life, family and career,” says ‘Deutsche Welle’ journalist stopped from leaving India for conference in Germany
Gowhar Geelani, a well-known Kashmiri journalist who works for the German radio and TV station Deutsche Welle, was last night stopped from flying out of New Delhi’s international airport to attend an “Editors’ Advanced Programme” in Bonn. Geelani—who believes both India and Pakistan should stay off Kashmir—was stopped by an immigration official after he had…
An ‘Indian Express’ reporter recounts a bone-chilling story of pure horror in Kashmir, as India’s media bodies beat around the bush
24 days after the “lockdown”—jargon for a brutal, undemocratic suppression of civil liberties—in Kashmir began, life continues to be hell for journalists in paradise. The physical, professional, psychological and commercial implications of the communications blackout on reporters, photographers, cameramen, editors and owners have been much catalogued. In today’s Indian Express, Adil Akhzer recounts a personal…
“In an authoritarian state there is only one Truth; the newspapers are all alike, they all repeat the same one Truth. So do the radio stations, and you cannot listen to those of other countries”
What does a Kashmiri journalist who is neither a fidayeen anchor nor a studio warrior of the commando comic TV channels—on either side of the line of no control—feel about the undemocratic and unaccountable crackdown on media in the Valley? Srinagar-based journalist and broadcaster Gowhar Geelani—who believes both India and Pakistan should stay off Kashmir—has…
Raja Mohi-ud-din: editor, printer, publisher, distributor, messenger and store manager of a one-sheet Kashmiri newspaper that sells 500 copies in 5 minutes
In the New York Times, a graphic report of the state of journalists and journalism in Kashmir, following the communications blackout in the Valley. The paper tracks the life of Raja Mohi-ud-din, the editor of a Kashmiri newspaper, who wakes up at 2 am, carries the news for the next day’s issue on a pen…
Narendra Modi and Amit Shah brutally divided Jammu and Kashmir. Now, the media have neatly divided themselves: foreign vs ‘desi’; local vs Delhi; Kashmiri vs Pandit—journalism vs propaganda
Like so much else since the dawn of civilisation in 2014, journalistic coverage and assessment of the situation in Kashmir after the removal of Article 370 in the Valley has been severely polarised. On the one side is a contest between the establishment view of the Narendra Modi government, and the independent view of foreign news…
A brave woman newspaper Editor shows the chutzpah to mount a legal challenge to the Narendra Modi government’s squeeze on media freedom in Kashmir, while industry bodies watch on smugly
Indian media bodies—Press Council of India, Indian Newspaper Society, Editors Guild of India, the various Press Clubs et al—have been happy to watch the extraordinary squeeze on journalism in Kashmir, following the Narendra Modi government’s decision to strip the Valley of special Article 370, silently from the sidelines. Silence bordering on complicity. It is as…
Editors Guild finally—finally!—speaks out on “draconian” Kashmir media blackout, seeks fair access for local reporters
Six days after a blanket ban on communications crippled journalism in Kashmir, the Editors Guild of India finally has finally found its voice. “The Editors Guild of India is deeply concerned over the continued shutdown in communication links with the Kashmir Valley and the consequent curtailment of the media’s freedom and ability to report fairly…
‘China Daily’ hands back occupied areas to India
Tongue firmly in cheek, James Fallows of The Atlantic Monthly (a one-time resident of Beijing) calls it “the world’s finest daily”. Two weeks ago it began to appear on the streets of the United States. Now, “China Daily” has spread its wings to India. A 24-page edition of the weekly tabloid, printed in Hong Kong…
Star News chief made to ‘sweep’ Kashmir street
The renewed violence on the streets of Kashmir—against the presence of armed forces, the stifling of free movement and speech, the alienation of the State and the humiliation of the people—is not sparing journalists on the job, too. Samar Halarnkar of the Hindustan Times reports in today’s paper that… “A friend’s husband, the chief of…
An example to emulate for Indian journalists
Not too many working Indian journalists are in the book-writing habit. At least not in English. Pesky bosses who don’t give leave from work, the effort involved in finding a publisher, the commitment entailed in pursuing a different form of writing, not to speak of the fear of failure, etc, all play a contributing part.…
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