NEW DELHI: A recent visit by a group of Indian reporters to Israel, and their meeting with its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has sparked outrage at home, with senior journalists calling out both the reporters and their publications for violating professional standards and ethics.
Photos posted on social media by Netanyahu’s office showed him last week receiving journalists from India, including Sidhant Sibal from WION TV, Manash Pratim Bhuyan from the Press Trust of India, Aditya Raj Kaul, former senior executive editor at TV9 network, Shubhajit Roy from the Indian Express, and Abhishek Kapoor from Republic TV.
The fact that they accepted the Israeli prime minister’s invitation was “deplorable,” one of the most prominent figures in Indian journalism N. Ram, publisher of The Hindu Group, which includes The Hindu, Frontline, and Sportstar, told Arab News.
“They should have boycotted a man like Netanyahu. And, also, to accept this kind of invitation at this juncture shows the complete lack of sensitivity towards what ethical journalism is about,” he said.
“It only speaks poorly of these journalists and the organizations they represent.”
