Arif Mohammad Khan, the governor of Kerala, has prohibited two Malayalam networks from attending his press conference in Kochi on Monday.
One of them, Kairali News, is the channel of the CPI(M), which is in power, while Media One, a satellite channel in Malayalam, is being prohibited by the federal government due to security clearance difficulties.
The Governor told the reporters from Media One and Kairali News to leave the area and declared that he would not meet with them since they were “masquerading” as political figures.
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What he said
He urged them to go and stated, “I thought the media was very important. Although I have always reacted to the media, I am no longer able to convince myself to believe people who pose as the media. Even while they pose as journalists, they are really just political allies.
There are in fact party members present. Therefore, if anyone from these channels is present at the press conference, please adjourn. If there were reporters from Media One and Kairali present, I would leave. I had firmly stated that I would not speak with Kairali and Media One,” he continued.
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At the guest house in Kochi, the press conference was held this morning.
Both of these channels were among the four Malayalam channels that Raj Bhavan had previously prohibited from attending a press conference with the governor on October 24.
The CPI’s official news channel is Kairali News (M). Additionally, the national government is considering banning Media One, a Malayalam satellite channel, due to problems with security clearance.
Last Monday, the Supreme Court postponed making a decision regarding Media One’s appeal of the prohibition. The SC had authorized the station to continue its broadcast in an interim order from March.
