India minister hits back at NYT chairman over 'journalists treated as terrorists' barb: 'New Distort Times'

Indian information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur slammed The New York Times (NYT) chairman A G Sulzberger on Thursday (4) for his claims that journalists are treated as terrorists in India.

Speaking at a UNESCO event on World Press Freedom Day on Wednesday (3), Sulzberger said in India, authorities have raided newsrooms and treated journalists essentially as terrorists.

Thakur asserted that the law took its own course in India in case of any wrongdoing and no one can claim immunity citing the status of being a media organisation.

"In India law takes its own course if someone does something wrong, newsroom or no newsroom. Mere claiming the status of a newsroom does not grant immunity from unlawful deeds," he wrote on Twitter.

Thakur wondered how any investigation amounts to an attack on the press.

"Is it prudent to be a loose mouth and say journalists in India are treated as terrorists?" the minister asked.

He accused the NYT of running a "smear campaign" against India and using the UNESCO podium to "distort facts".

"Unable to digest the global rise of India and its turning into an economic powerhouse, certain old world media houses have been running a systematic smear campaign against India," Thakur tweeted.

"NYT, which has carved a niche for itself for writing fact-free and fabricated anti-India stories, shamelessly misused the podium of UNESCO to distort facts," he added.

The minister said it has been difficult for him to differentiate whether the newspaper is "The New York Times or New Distort Times".

(PTI)