Author: Subrata Nagchoudhury
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: October 1, 2002
He can't very well tell journalists
what to write, so West Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharya is now saying what
they shouldn't.
After several skirmishes between
him and the Press, he has taken it upon himself to teach journalists "how
to conduct themselves inside Secretariat" and to "play the game according
to rules".
The latest incident occurred on
Friday when some journalists came to the Secretariat to cover the impact
of a half-day, pen down strike called by nine staff bodies over slashing
of the Puja bonus. The CPI (M) backed coordination committee members manhandled
a group of media men and broke the camera of at least one photographer.
When journalists brought this to
Bhattacharya's notice, the CM expressed regrets but demanded: "Why do you
want to write and take photos of a small minority in the Secretariat while
the majority is doing normal work?" According to him, this was an example
of journalists "not playing by the rules and overstepping their limits".
Incidentally, there was no trouble
while reporters and photographers were doing the rounds of departments
where normal work was on. It was only when they went to the branches of
the Secretariat, including Agriculture, Budget and Taxation, where the
pen-down strike could be seen that the trouble started.
Asked if this wasn't a part of the
complete picture, he said: "No, you can't do that." He added that the accreditation
card given to journalists "is for entering the Secretariat. It does not
give them free access to departments...One has to have an invitation from
the departmental head."
But a few days ago, even that hadn't
prevented some journalists from being at the receiving end of Bhattacharya's
ire.
