[dropcap]O[/dropcap]ne annoying thing is some parties/organizations/individuals coming to the media houses for clarification or seeking the authenticity of the news reports after several days of the publication. It is rather creating differences between us and those groups. When nearly a hundred emails or piles of hard copies of press notes are dumping every day in a single media house it is too hard to trace the news reports which were published several days ago. What we can suggest is—should you need clarifications or to find out the sources of the published reports kindly do it immediately. But also remember, we may not be in the position to reveal the sources in certain reports.One thing the parties/individuals should learn is that the media houses are messengers. This column had carried a couple of times on this matter. You cannot ransack the media offices because we have published news reports which are against your interest. We cannot be blamed for those situations. We can only help you to entertain your rejoinder or your version to the reports. As we said, you cannot blame your doctor when you are diagnosed with cancer. Or, you cannot get angry with the postman for bringing you a bad news. The logic is as simple as this.
Having said this we don’t mean we are to entertain any report that comes in our way. We do have our own mechanism to authenticate the press releases and sources. Even if the press releases are from the genuine bodies, here again we screen the nature of the matter before we go to print. We also have our check and balance mechanism. Things which are detrimental to the society we dump them in the dustbins even if they are authentic. We are professionals. We are also responsible citizens. We don’t need intimidating advisors. Ours is a case where the ‘advisors’ are crowded dictating us what we should do. If this is not called the gagging of the media then what is?
