Kochi woman journos want criminal action on Mangalam TV, march to channel office

Protests against the Malayalam television channel Mangalam over its unethical sting operation on a Minister continues to spark outrage.

A day after several women journalists from Thiruvananthapuram took out a protest march to the office of Mangalam TV, a number of journalists carried out protest march in Kochi on Saturday.

Nearly fifty women journalists across media organisations began the march from Vyttila junction, but were blocked by the police a few meters away from Mangalam's office.

Inaugurating the protest march, former legislature and media critic Advocate Sebastian Paul said that Mangalam channel had wronged not just its own employees, but also the journalist community as a whole.

"This matter cannot be solved with a mere apology. Also, the channel CEO did not apologise for the unethical sting operation, but only for the manner in which it was broadcast. This is not acceptable. CEO Ajith Kumar must admit that what his channel did is not journalism," Sebastian Paul said.

Shahina Nafeesa, senior journalist with Open Magazine said, "Our agitation is not something that will lose its sheen. We should continue our protest in several other ways. At this march, we are also representing those women journalists who could not make it today. Our aim is not to force Mangalam to shut shop, but to ensure criminal action is taken against them."

The social media campaign by women journalists across Kerala, too, has gained momentum, with several of them posting photographs holding placards that read: "Proud to be a woman journalist."

Similar protests were carried out in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode on Friday.

Mangalam TV, which was launched last week, aired an audio clip allegedly of former Transport Minister Saseendran engaging in a sexually explicit conversation with an unknown woman. While the channel had initially claimed that the woman on the other end was a person who went to Saseendran for some help, and that the then Minister misused his power to engage in sexual talk with her, the channel revealed on Thursday that the they had actually conducted a ‘sting operation’ on Saseendran.