Newly launched Malayalam channel, Mangalam, that aired a Kerala minister’s sex talk over phone is facing allegations of honey trapping the minister to break into the crowded television business with a sensational story.
Just as the allegations were gaining wind, a woman journalist quit the organisation questioning the unethical and unprofessional practices in the news organisation.
The scandal had led to the resignation of transport minister AK Saseendran.
Earlier, Mangalam had a special show to explain its part as the channel came under scanner with many people raising doubts about it.
In a facebook post, the journalist Al Neema Ashraf said that prior to the launch the channel had formed an investigation team comprising five reporters in May last year.
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“My name was also considered for the team. But, I told them I did not want to do it,” she said, adding, “I came to know about the story only when it was aired. The unethical aspect of it is evident when thought of it in the context of what they had said at the time of forming the investigation team.”
“I have many questions in my mind,” the reporter said, “who is the complainant woman (in the story)? What complaint she had to convey to the transport minister? Why was her voice edited out (from the clip)?”
“I have resigned because it has become unbearable (for me) not only as a journalist but also as a woman,” she said.
