The All Manipur Working Journalists’ Union (AMWJU) and Editors’ Guild Manipur (EGM) have condemned the forceful shut down of TOM TV by some people who claimed to be investors of its parent company ‘Lamjingba Finance’ at around 1:40 PM of Monday.
In a joint press note, General Secretary of EGM Y Rupachandra and AMWJU Secretary Kh Naoba mentioned that according to A Mobi, Editor-in-chief of TOM TV, it is not the first time that the so-called investors have targeted TOM TV, including holding its staffs as hostage for four-five hours.
TOM TV is located just adjacent to Lamjingba Finance office (parent body of TOM TV) and the so-called investors entered the PCR room of the TV news station and forcefully shut down the news organisation.
After a similar earlier attack, Mobi had written a letter to the Superintendent of Police, Imphal West, asking for security. However, nothing has been arranged till date, it added.
“Staffs of TOM TV are members of AMWJU and its Editor member of EGM and both the organisations share the trauma the employees of TOM TV went through. Both AMWJU and EGM consider the action as a challenge against the ‘freedom of expression’ and demand that appropriate action be taken up as early as possible against those by the state Home Department.
“Any issues any one has with its parent company Lamjingba Finance should not be used as an excuse to target a functioning media house. AMWJU and EGM appeal all concerned to not to forcibly close any media houses on one pretext or another. We also appeal to the state government to provide adequate security to enable TOM TV to function as usual,” they stated.
