Institutional journalism has slipped on another step in the scamper of TRP gained against Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide case when this week’s one of the most important news remained comfortably unnoticed socially as well as legally.
A former employee of TimesNow has spoken against sexual harassment she has faced for twelve years of her employment. According to her, M.K.Anand who is also MD and CEO of the channel has touched her inappropriately and demanded sexual favours. She has also filed a criminal case against him with N.M. Joshi Marg Police, Mumbai.
What was more disappointing then the nature of the crime itself is the response of the channel when the issue is bought into their notice. TimesNow issued a notice saying “why didn’t she speak up all this while?”, and call the allegations malicious. Additionally, the victim has been blamed for being incompetent at her work and consequently losing her job which might have shaped her frustration into such serious allegations.
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A reputed media house who is among India’s largest media group has shown some degree of irresponsibility for not going into an impartial and serious investigation of a case that demands a lot of sincerity. From exponentially increasing rape cases in states like Uttar Pradesh to unexposed harassment in our elite class, a serious decline in accountability of actions can be clearly seen.
Saket Gokhale, a social activist from Mumbai however tweeted questioning the answerability of TimesNow’s security policy at work. He also appreciated Indian Express for being the only one to cover the story in the entire media fraternity.
Only the @IndianExpress bothered to cover the news albeit very very briefly. No other media outlet has said ONE WORD.
Everyone's trying to bury this shocking incident that happened at @TimesNow https://t.co/1V0GYRmK8N
— Saket Gokhale (@SaketGokhale) September 1, 2020
