The Editors’ Council on Tuesday called upon the information ministry to refrain from wholesale steps like revocation of accreditation cards of journalists and to stop all types of attacks on the media.
In a statement, the council, a platform of leading newspaper editors, on Tuesday also called for measures to ensure free and democratic journalism.
‘The Press Information Department has revoked accreditation cards of 167 journalists in three phases. This has worried us as the list includes professional and active journalists and editors,’ said the statement signed by the Editors’ Council president Mahfuz Anam and general secretary Dewan Hanif Mahmud.
The Editors’ Council holds the view that the information ministry has the jurisdiction to review if anyone misuses any accreditation card issued by the department to any journalist, said the statement.
‘But the cancellation of accreditation cards on wholesale basis without specific allegations and proof of any offences appears as a threat to free journalism and a barrier to ensuring a democratic environment,’ said the statement, adding that through this, risks of censorship and an environment of authoritarianism were created that went against the main spirit of the July-August uprising.
The Editors’ Council considered the issue as a ‘repetition of the undemocratic exercise of the fascist structure of the previous regime, the statement said.