In a statement on Sunday, the Editors Guild of India said it had written to the Press Information Bureau of India (PIB) demanding the withdrawal of the newly-released Media Accreditation Guidelines.
The Guild has also urged the PIB to undertake meaningful consultation with all the stakeholders, in case it is intent on revising the guidelines.
Earlier this month, the PIB published the new ‘Central Media Accreditation Guidelines 2022’, which came into effect on February 1 and determine the accreditation of all journalists to access and report from the headquarters of the Government of India.
Under these new guidelines, a journalist’s accreditation will be withdrawn or suspended if they “act in a manner detrimental to the security, sovereignty and integrity of the country,” or to India’s “amicable relations with foreign states.” Further, if a journalist’s actions are “detrimental to public order, decency or morality” or they are involved in “contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence,” they may lose their accreditation.
The guidelines also state that a journalist “charged with a serious cognisable offence” would also lose accreditation.
The Guild, in its statement, pointed out that it is “bizarre that merely being charged has been mentioned as a ground for cancellation.”
“Worse still, concerned journalists have not been given an opportunity to be heard. Most surprisingly, ‘defamation’ has been included as a ground for cancellation,” the Guild further wrote.
The statement also pointed out that many of the criteria for cancellation are “vague and subjective.” The Guild added that this was especially concerning since no procedures have been set out and there is no mention of the adjudicating authority that will decide on suspension.
Further, the Guild wrote, “A new clause requiring police verification has been added without defining the contours of such verification. Since no standards have been prescribed, it can grant unfettered powers to the police for denying accreditation to journalists who may be seen as critical of the government.”
Calling the new guidelines “arbitrary, vague and draconian,” the Guild said that such clauses have been included with an “intent to restrict any critical and investigative reporting of the government affairs.”
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In another more detailed letter addressed to Jaideep Bhatnagar, the Principal Director General, PIB, the Guild has also expressed its surprise over the lack of consultation with press organisations and media bodies before issuing the new guidelines.
“This is arbitrary and violates due process of the law for the following reasons: (i) it does not provide for an adjudicating authority to decide on suspension, (ii) lacks procedural safeguards of right of hearing, recording of reasons, provision of appeal, etc; and (iii) is a disproportionate and uncalled for punishment for actions that already have existing remedies in law,” the letter stated.
Previously, on February 11, five media bodies had also written to the Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur, regarding the same issue.