The channel further added that the lawsuit was “an unsophisticated warning to the media to stop doing its job,” and that the channel would continue to indulge in journalism that “uncovers the truth.”
“NDTV maintains that it is being targeted for its fair and independent journalism and that its persecution is intended to signal to other media that unless they fall in line, they will face similar consequences. Raids on media owners are further evidence of this,” said the channel.
On October 11, Income Tax officials ‘surveyed’ The Quint Type office including The Quint and The News Minute.
Upon entering the office, the officials had asked the people to stop working and give up their phones. However, after briefly exchanging words about the nature of journalistic work, the officials agreed for them to continue, sources told FPK.
The Asia desk of Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) had expressed their ‘concerns’ about media reports which suggested ‘tax officials have cloned data from The Quint co-founder and its CEO’s gadgets containing sensitive journalistic material during a tax raid’, calling it a ‘direct attack on journalistic freedom’ on Twitter.
CPJ is concerned about news report that suggest tax officials have cloned data from @TheQuint co-founder @kapur_ritu‘s gadgets containing sensitive journalistic material during a tax raid. This is a direct attack on journalistic freedom. https://t.co/5GvhsVNUzY #pressfreedom
— CPJ Asia (@CPJAsia) October 11, 2018
This is in connection with The Associate Editor of The Quint, Poonam Agarwal who, on Twitter, said that the IT officers were ‘trying to clone data’ of the Founder and CEO of the Media organisation, Ritu Kapur.
IT officers are trying to clone data from @kapur_ritu‘s gadgets. When she screamed and asked me about the law of privacy and whether they can clone her journalistic and personal material, while I was standing outside her residence, two IT officers pulled her inside the house.
— Poonam Agarwal (@poonamjourno) October 11, 2018
Earlier, The Editors Guild of India expressed their concerns over the ‘search and survey’ by Income Tax officials in The Quint offices and The News Minute, and the residence of TQ founder Raghav Bahl on Thursday.
