Fired for tweets on Modi, journalist to take on media houses’ code of conduct

New Delhi: Shyam Meera Singh, the journalist who was fired from Aaj Tak for his tweets on Narendra Modi, said on Saturday that he wishes to file his case in the High Court to undo the code of conduct for media houses and universities which curb free speech.

Singh was fired from the Aaj Tak post expressing his critical views on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In his tweets, Singh referred to Modi as a ‘shameless prime minister’ and said that ‘before asking people to respect the Prime Minister, Modi should be asked to respect the post of the Prime Minister.” 

Responding to his tweets, the India Today group, in a mail addressed to Singh stated that despite warnings Singh had violated the code of conduct policies which prevent him from airing his personal views on politics and as such is terminated from Aaj Tak.

While many journalists stood in open solidarity with him, Singh states that a lot of journalists were afraid to speak out owing to the fear of losing their jobs. Singh asked people on Twitter to connect him with a good lawyer and said, “..if I have spoken against this system then now I should fight for them (journalists) so that they too can fight against this regime.”

Reiterating his desire for media houses free of code of conduct rules, Singh stated clearly that he would never work for Aaj Tak again and neither would he seek compensation from them.