Journalists could lose accreditation if propagate fake news
New Delhi: In an election year, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has amended guidelines for journalists’ accreditation stating that if a journalist is found to have “created and/or propagated” fake news, the journalist’s accreditation will be suspended or permanently cancelled.
In a press release issued Monday evening, it said that the Press Council of India and News Broadcasters Association (NBA), the two regulatory bodies for print and television media respectively, will determine whether the news is fake or not.
Once a complaint is registered for “determination of fake news,” the Ministry’s statement said, the accreditation of the journalist who “created and/or propagated the fake news” will be “suspended till such time the determination regarding the fake news is made by the regulating agencies mentioned above”.
Immediate responses to the move from journalists were almost uniformly negative, ranging from those who think this move will not affect the actual problem of fake news to others who believe this is an attack on press freedoms.
The Press Information Bureau website says that 2,404 journalists now have accreditation. To put that number in context, there were 105,443 newspapers registered in India as of 2015 (and that does not count broadcast or digital news organisations). So it is clear that the impact of these regulations is on a very small subset of Indian journalists.
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Kolkata, May 18: In a veiled reference to West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said he cannot speak in favour of someone who wants to finish him politically and his party in the state.
His comment comes hours after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge asserted that Chowdhury is no one to take a decision on whether Banerjee would be part of the INDIA bloc in the event of the anti-BJP alliance coming to power after the Lok Sabha polls.
Asked about Kharge’s statement, Chowdhury, who is seeking re-election from Baharampur on a Congress ticket, said, “I cannot speak in favour of someone who wants to finish me politically and our party in Bengal. This is a battle for every Congress worker. I have spoken on their behalf.”
Stating that his opposition to Banerjee stemmed from his principled stance, not from his interest, Chowdhury said “There is no personal grudge but I question her political ethics."
Asked about Mamata Banerjee's comment that she will support the INDIA bloc government from the outside and Chowdhury's remark that the Bengal CM cannot be trusted and she might go with the BJP, Kharge told reporters, "Mamata Banerjee is with the alliance. She has recently said that she will join the government. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary will not take the decision. The decision will be taken by me and the high command those who don't agree will go out."
Chowdhury also alleged that Banerjee had "taken Maoists' help to discredit the Left in Purulia, Bankura and Jhargram and then abandoned them.
“I don’t want the state Congress to be used for her personal agenda and then finish the organisation. If Kharge ji speaks against my views, I will continue to speak for Congressmen at the grassroots in the state.”
The TMC is contesting the Lok Sabha elections alone in the state, while the Congress and the Left are jointly fighting.
