Indian Newspaper Society opposes move to bring electronic media under Press Council of India

The Indian Newspaper Society on Thursday strongly opposed the move by the Press Council of India to bring electronic media, including broadcast and social media, within its purview. The INS also disputed assertions by the chairman of the council that a resolution had been passed authorising this.

“This move appears to have been single handedly spearheaded by the Chairman, Press Council of India for quite some time now and he now claims to have the mandate of the PCI Council by way of a resolution purported to have been passed by the PCI Council. Many of the council members contradicted this claim and issued press statement,” INS said in a statement.

The Press Council of India, which is headed by Justice Markandey Katju, had said in a statement that its members had passed a resolution to request the government to amend the Press Council Act 1978 bringing electronic media within the purview of the act and also rename PCI as the Media Council.

It also said that there was no electronic media when the Press Council Act was enacted, but it now exists. “Journalistic ethics apply not only to the print media but also to the electronic media,” it said.