Editors Guild, 6 media outfits demand probe monitored by SC

NEW DELHI: At least seven organisations representing journalists came together on Thursday to strongly condemn the alleged surveillance done on mediapersons through the Pegasus spyware.
Demanding clarity on how this was done and who authorised the snooping, the Press Club of India, Editors Guild of India, Press Association, Delhi Union of Journalists, Indian Women’s Press Corps, Working News Cameraman Association, IJU, and various media organisations demanded a Supreme Court-monitored inquiry into the alleged illegal snooping.
“The acts of snooping on citizens undermine democracy. It is, therefore, incumbent on the government to put an end to obfuscation of details and to come clean on the use of Pegasus spyware,” a joint statement by the organisations said.
Referring to the acts of snooping as a “gross misuse of state powers” that must be stopped immediately, the organisations said national security cannot be a shield for such unrestricted surveillance and added that media organisations “will explore constitutional options for the safeguard of democracy and freedom of press.”