Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday denied the State government had attempted to muzzle the media.
He said the government had formed a panel headed by Additional Director General of Police Manoj Abraham to detect and flag online misinformation and not to mind or police news organisations.
The mainstream media had an obligation to fact check before they broadcast or published news. In case misleading content got disseminated as factual information, then established news organisations had a moral obligation to own up and rectify the mistake publicly.
However, some sections of the media sidestepped the ethical responsibility. He cited the case of a social worker at Cherthala. The person had collected ₹70 from the public to pay rickshaw fare for a needy family. However, a particular news channel portrayed the individual as an extortionist. Other news outlets cleared the air and apologised. But the television news channel did not withdraw the fake report or express regret.
He said fake news was a threat to democracy. It risked public health and welfare. The COVID-19 pandemic had spawned several conspiracy theories. Purveyors of fake news had spread bizarre theories about magic cures. Some sought to make light of the contagion and dismissed the need to wear masks or maintain social distance.
Mr. Vijayan slammed the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for accelerating the spread of the pandemic by driving cadres to the streets. He said dissent was the cornerstone of democracy. But during the epidemic, protests should occur within the bounds set by the pandemic prevention protocol.
The Congress and the BJP had set a bad example for the public by rushing the police without wearing masks or maintaining physical distance. Such callous action would spike the COVID-19 caseload in the State in the days ahead and cause new disease clusters.
The police had booked 1,031 persons, including Congress legislators Shafi Parambil and K. S. Sabarinadhan, on the charge of violating the epidemic rules and disaster management law.
The Chief Minister said Higher Education Minister K.T. Jaleel was not a suspect in any criminal inquiry. The Enforcement Directorate and the National Investigation Agency had questioned him to get clarity in some matters. There was no ground for him to resign. Mr. Vijayan said Dr. Jaleel had struck a role profile to prevent law and order issues from breaking out and not because he “was afraid.”
