Deve Gowda disturbed about sale of majority stake of UNI

New Delhi, Oct 6 (UNI) Janata Dal (Secular) President and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda today expressed concern over the sale of a majority stake of UNI to a media house and said any attempt to dilute the independent functioning of the news agency currently managed by various media groups would change its impartial character.

In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Mr Gowda said UNI had strengthened the foundations of democracy by maintaining the highest journalistic traditions and free, fair and objective reporting. It provided news, pictures and graphics round the clock in English, Hindi and Urdu to hundreds of newspapers, magazines and television channels and websites, giving it a reach no single media house commanded, he said.

The wire service founded in 1961 at the instance of Jawaharlal Nehru had grown as a creditable news source in the country. "I am shocked to learn that it is now being taken over by one media group interested merely in its own expansion. Any change in the independent character of UNI would cause irreparable damage to the cause of democracy and free press," he said.

"I shall be grateful if you could use all the authority at your command to stall this move.. and help the organisation regain its strength," Mr Gowda told the Prime Minister.

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