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Highlighting the "irresponsible" conduct of certain news channels while covering clashes in Kanpur, the Editors Guild of India (EGI) on Wednesday, 8 June, asked them to pause and take a critical look at their attempts to increase viewership and revenues amid the clashes.
"EGI demands that these channels pause and take a critical look at what they have done by giving legitimacy to divisive and toxic voices that has made the national discourse coarse and the gap between communities is unbridgeable," the guild said in a statement.
"The Editors Guild of India is disturbed by the irresponsible conduct of some national news channels for deliberately creating circumstances that target vulnerable communities by spewing hatred towards them and their beliefs," the guild asserted.
"Expectedly, there was a riot in Kanpur accompanied by an unprecedented trenchant reaction from many countries that were offended by the remarks of the ruling party spokespersons," the guild further said, adding that in their "angry" statements they wondered about India's commitments to human rights and freedom of religion.
"The media is in place to strengthen the Constitution and the law and not break it through sheer irresponsibility and absence of accountability," it further added.
On Sunday, the BJP suspended Sharma and expelled Naveen Jindal from party's primary membership, after widespread outrage from middle-eastern countries against the spokesperson's remarks on the Prophet.
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