Governor E S L Narasimhan gave a patient hearing to the journalist leaders and assured them of action.
A delegation of senior journalists and leaders of various journalists' unions on Wednesday called on Andhra Pradesh Governor E S L Narasimhan and submitted a memorandum to him requesting him to intervene and stop the "unilateral and anti-democratic" action of the Chandrababu Naidu government in blacking out the Sakshi TV channel in Andhra Pradesh.
The delegation comprising senior journalist Varadachari (Senior Journalists Union), Devulapalli Amar (Indian Journalists Union), K Srinivas Reddy (Mana Telangana), Amarnath (Press Council of India member), K Ramachandra Murthy (Sakshi Editorial Director), Vardelli Murali (Sakshi Editor), Narendar Reddy (APUWJ), G Anjaneyulu (Journalists' Federation), Kommineni Srinivasa Rao, Shailesh Reddy, Nagesh Kumar, Bandaru Srinivasa Rao, Dilip Reddy, Priya Chowdary, Gopinath Reddy, Srinivas Reddy, Ravikanth Reddy and others met the Governor at Raj Bhavan and presented a memorandum.
Pleading for his intervention in the "anti-democratic" action of the TDP government, they brought to the notice of the Governor AP Deputy CM-cum-Home Minister Chinarajappa's announcement that his government had willfully stopped the Sakshi TV channel telecast in the wake of Kapu leader Mudragada Padmanabham's hunger strike and anti-government protests all over the State, and sought his immediate intervention to stop the ""illegal action of the Chandrababu Naidu government.
The Governor gave a patient hearing to the journalist leaders and assured them of action.
Earlier, hundreds of journalists took out a rally from the Press Club at Somajiguda to Raj Bhavan. Armed with placards, the journalists raised slogans like "restore freedom of press", "dictatorial regime down down" and so on.
Speaking on the occasion, Sakshi Media Group Editorial Director K Ramchandra Murthy said that blocking out a TV channel for exposing a government's misdeeds was a clear act of anarchy, and that all democratic forces should unanimously oppose it.
"If we do not resist these kinds of actions of governments, the same can happen to any other media entity and in any other State in the country, which will adversely affect the people in general," Murthy said.
Devulapalli Amar said that the matter would be pursued with the Press Council of India.