Indore: Criticising the media for its coverage of Anna Hajare's agitation, chairman of Press Council of India Markendya Katju on Sunday said that many journalists were swayed by emotion and became "part of the movement" instead of reporting objectively.
Speaking at a seminar here on "Anna Hajare's movement and media", Katju said that a large section of the print and electronic media was swayed by emotions and acted irresponsibly.
He recalled that during the Babri Masjid controversy also, some journalists of the Hindi press instead of reporting the events objectively became 'karsevaks' themselves and lost their objectivity.
Katju also criticised Team Anna's plan to contest elections saying it was beset with contradiction.
The council chairman said that he had read the Jan Lokpal bill given by Team Anna and if it became a reality, corruption would double.
If the Jan Lokpal Bill was passed, about 2.50 crore employees who are now covered by the Anti-Corruption Act would come under the Lokpal and there would be lakhs of complaints made against them, some of which could be right while some would be false but a large number of lokpals would be needed to look into these complaints entailing huge expenditure.
Besides, there would be possibility of many of these Lokpals turning into blackmailers, he apprehended.
Anna Hazare has maintained that he would not contest elections as he did not have Rs 15-20 crore required to contest an election. Now, from where would Anna get honest candidates when it costs Rs 15-20 crore to contest an election, Katju asked.
PTI
First Published: Monday, August 06, 2012, 00:17