Press Statement

IJU strongly protest decision to appoint committee for online media

07 Apr, 2018

The Indian Journalists Union (IJU) strongly protested against decision of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to appoint a committee with officials of various ministries and representatives of the Press Council of India (PCI), News Broadcasters Association and Indian Broadcasters Federation to recommend regulatory frame work for the online media, without representation to the working journalists, editors and the managements of the newspaper industry.

In a statement issued on Friday, the Indian Journalists Union President S N Sinha, Secretary-General Amar Devulapalli and Vice-president Sabina Inderjit said that it was absurd to think of regulation of the online media on the advice of bureaucrats and managements associations of the electronic media without involving the representative organisations of the working journalists, editors and managements of the newspaper industry.

“We would like point out that some of the best and credible news web-sites with large readership, are being run by eminent journalists, editors and largely circulated newspapers. Most of the fake news is circulated by individuals and groups without journalistic background on social media. The IJU, the largest and most representative organisation of the working journalists in the country, is also concerned over circulation of fake news in social media platforms. But the way to fight the menace should be found by the working journalists and editors not by the bureaucrats and representatives of handpicked associations of the owners of the electronic media,” the statement said.

The IJU leaders said having failed to tame the journalists by threats of cancellation of accreditations, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting was finding new ways to keep the practitioners of journalism under leash in an election year. They called upon the organisations of working journalists, editors and media houses to take steps to protect freedom of the press and integrity of profession of journalism.

We hope the joint meeting of the organisations of working journalists, editors and Indian Newspapers Society (INS) on Saturday in Delhi will take steps to resist the attempts of the government subvert the functioning of Press Council of India and Central Press Accreditation Committee by excluding the representative organisations from them.