AMWJU, EGM condemn disruption caused to TOM TV
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, March 28 2022:
All Manipur Working Journalists' Union (AMWJU) and Editors' Guild Manipur (EGM) have strongly condemned harassment meted out against staffers of TOM TV and shutting down its operation by a group of people claiming to be investors of its parent company Lamjingba Finance.
In a joint release, AMWJU secretary Kh Naoba and EGM secretary general Y Rupachandra quoted TOM TV editor-in-chief A Mobi as saying that a group of people claiming to be investors of Lamjingba Finance barged into its office building which is located adjacent finance company's office and entered the PCR room of the TV news station and forcibly shut down its operation on Monday around 1:40 pm.
The editor-in-chief said it is not the first incident as in an earlier case the 'investors' held hostage staffers of the TV news station for 4-5 hours.
Though the editor-in-chief had earlier requested the Imphal West SP for security arrangement there has been no positive response so far, the joint release stated.
AMWJU and EGM termed such unruly act as a challenge against freedom of expression and demanded appropriate action against those perpetrators by the state home department as early as possible.
Any issues anyone has with its parent company Lamjingba Finance should not be used as an excuse to target a functioning media house, it said and appealed to all concerned not to force closure or hinder operation of any media houses.
It further urged the state government to provide adequate security to enable TOM TV to function as usual.