The Editors Guild of India on Thursday expressed concern about what it called “high-handed” and “arbitrary” police action that interrupted the work of journalists reporting on the coronavirus outbreak in many parts of the country.

“The State and Union Territory governments and the police also need to be reminded that media has been exempted as an essential service under the current lockdown guidelines of the Union Home Ministry,” the Guild said in a statement.

It said the “high-handed and arbitrary police action” had “obstructed many journalists from reporting on the coronavirus outbreak in many parts of the country”.

“Such action is self-defeating when media freedoms are critically important for covering the outbreak and the state response,” it said.