Telangana State Media Academy and State Media Accreditation Committee chairman K Srinivas Reddy has promised to consider the demands of the Telangana Urdu Working Journalists’ Federation (TUWJF). The TUWJF state president M A Majid, along with state general secretary Syed Ghouse Mohiuddin and others, met with the chairman on Monday to express their concerns.
They submitted a memorandum highlighting the injustice faced by Urdu journalists due to the controversial G.O 239 issued by the I&PR department. Despite Urdu being the second official language of the state and the second largest media after Telugu, they alleged facing linguistic discrimination.
According to Syed Ghouse Mohiuddin, the G.O. 239 disrupted the decades-old practice of equality in the accreditation card sanction process. Previously, mandal-level accreditation cards were granted to Urdu journalists until 2014. However, the government introduced G.O. 239, which stopped issuing mandal-level accreditation cards to Urdu journalists, while Telugu journalists continue to receive this privilege.
Another issue highlighted by the TUWJF is that G.O. 239 included all Telugu Unions, photographers, video cameramen, and small papers associations in the State Media Accreditation Committee (SMAC) and District Media Accreditation Committee (DMAC), excluding Urdu media. They requested the inclusion of the Telangana Urdu Working Journalists Federation in SMAC & DMAC or at least the nomination of Urdu journalists in these committees.
