PM, Sonia urged to prevent UNI sale

New Delhi, Sep 22: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi were today urged to foil an attempted takeover of the United News of India (UNI) by a media group.

The Joint Action Committee of the UNI employees submitted separate memoranda to both leaders seeking their intervention to revive the 45-year-old national news organisation with government help.

Terming the proposed takeover bid by the Zee TV group of Subhash Chandra as ''extremely disturbing'', the memorandum said the losses of the news agency could be covered if the state-run Prasar Bharati revises its subscription rates to UNI.

The Committee also sought a one-time revival package for the news agency suggesting a major chunk of the trust's shares could be given to employees.

The revival plan could include government sanction for a new building at the UNI headquarters in Delhi, matching the multimedia requirements of the news agency, it added.

''We solicit your immediate intervention as it entails the crucial issue of freedom of the Press as enshrined in Art. 19 of the Constitution,'' the memorandum said.

Earlier, the Samajwadi Party expressed its support to the UNI employees in their fight to protect the independent character of the news organisation.

SP's Rajya Sabha member Shahid Siddiqui demanded an all-party meeting to discuss the issue and find out ways to transform the news agency into a viable organisation.

Eminent civil rights activist Prashant Bhushan said the bid to control the news agency was fraught with dangers because it represents the growing trend of monopoly in the media.

National Union of Journalists President Dr N K Trikha said control of the news agency should not be handed over to a ''single entity'', which will have ''serious consequences'' to the democratic set-up of the country.

The government should step in with subsidy to help the news agency of national importance to turn around as it ''renders immense public service'', he added.

UNI