(Rptg, correcting name in para 10, line 1)

New Delhi, Oct 16 (UNI) Hundreds of journalists and non-journalist employees of news organisations today staged a sit-in in front of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to demand the government's immediate intervention to protect the independent character of the United News of India (UNI).

Protesting against the sale of majority stake in the news agency to the Subhash Chandra-owned Mediavest, members of five major journalists' unions marched from the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) building to the Shastri Bhavan housing the Information and Broadcasting Ministry this afternoon.

After an hour-long dharna, Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi invited a ten-member delegation of the unions for talks tomorrow.

A memorandum submitted to Mr Dasmunsi sought a CBI inquiry into the deal and a financial package from the government to revitalise the news agency.

Sitting in a dharna at the Shastri Bhavan, the protestors demanded that the government should act swifty to thwart the take-over. Little has been done by the government to ''save'' the premier news agency from corporatisation, said union leaders while addressing the rally.

The dharna was organised by the Confederation of Newspaper and News Agency Employees Organisations comprising the All-India Newspaper Employees' Federation, Federation of PTI Employees' Unions, Indian Journalists' Union (IJU), UNI Workers' Union and National Union of Journalists (NUJ).

''If the government fails to intervene in the issue, the Confederation will lay a seige to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry,'' said M S Yadav, the Confederation general secretary.

Addressing the rally, IJU president Suresh Akhouri said it was ''unfortunate'' that the government was not paying adequate attention to the issue of UNI take-over, which he emphasised would not only ''threaten'' the freedom of the Press, but also internal security.

Decrying the attempts of corporate houses to monopolise flow of information, Delhi Union of Journalists president S K Pande said a nationwide stir, including an indefinite sit-in at the I and B Ministry, would be launched very soon if the government does not step in to abort the deal, which he said gives the control of the news agency to a single media group.

NUJ leader Maheshwar Dayalu Gangavar maintained that the issue was not limited to UNI but had by now become a national issue. ''We understand that some ministers and officials in the UPA government have patronised the deal forgetting that the issue involves freedom of the Press.'' Journalists across the country will not allow the deal to materialise as they have thwarted many such attempts like the Bihar Press Bill and the Defamation Bill, said Mr Gangavar.

Lok Raj Sangathan national convenor Prakash Rao said the deal would not only threaten the livelihood of nearly 1,000 employees but was also linked to the larger issue of privatising the news agency, which runs a multi-lingual service, including in Hindi and Urdu.

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