NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, FEB 16
The Indian Journalists Union (IJU), the premier organization of media persons in the country, on Wednesday wrote to Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Minister Anurag Thakur urging him to withdraw the ‘unilateral and unfair’ new guidelines issued recently for the accreditation of senior Journalists by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) under him.
In its letter to the minister, the IJU said, “The new guidelines are drastically altering the accreditation guidelines issued by the Press Council of India (PCI), the quasi judicial body that guide the print media in the country. The IJU feels that the new guidelines are aimed at suppressing coverage of news and views gathering, controlling the freedom of press and putting undue pressure on Correspondents and Photographers. We suspect that there is a hidden agenda to keep away journalists from the sources of news like Government offices, Legislatures and even Judiciary,” IJU president BR Prajapati, President and secretary-general G Prabhakaran said in the letter.
The new guidelines for PIB accreditation should be seen with the restrictions on entry to the Parliament since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. But even after the pandemic virus dipped and most restrictions withdrawn the access to Parliament to Journalists is yet to be restored.
According to Central Media Accreditation Guidelines-2022, announced on February 7, 2022 accreditation is liable to be withdrawn or suspended if a journalist “acts in a manner prejudicial to the country’s security, sovereignty and integrity, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality, or in any relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence”.
There are lots of grey areas in these guidelines that could be misused against the Journalists as the discretion is with the Government to interpret it.
Accreditation can also be suspended if a Journalist or the media organisation the scribe represents is found to have furnished false or forged information or documents.
“In such an event, the journalist/media organisation shall be debarred from accreditation for up to a maximum of five years but not less than two years, as may be decided by the CMAC (Central Media Accreditation Committee),” the guidelines stipulate.
Besides, accredited media persons have been prohibited from using the words “Accredited to the government of India” on public/social media profile, visiting cards, letterheads or on any other form or any published work.
The new guidelines also provides for setting of a Central Media Accreditation Committee (CMAC), to be chaired by the principal director general of the PIB. The committee will comprise up to 25 members, nominated by the government.
Thus the Government wanted to bring the media under its control which is totally against the freedom of press and free speech. Such curbs on the media will endanger the country’s democratic system itself.
The IJU leaders urged the I&B Minister to withdraw the new PIB guidelines issued for providing accreditation to senior Journalists forthwith.
