Public Accounts Committee praises whistle-blowers
The panel’s draft report said it valued the freedom of the press and did not want to suggest any model code of conduct for the media.
By ET Bureau | Updated:
NEW DELHI: The Public Accounts Committee has praised the role of whistleblowers and the media, which unravelled irregularities in 2G spectrum allocation. The panel’s draft report said it valued the freedom of the press and did not want to suggest any model code of conduct for the media.
“When the committee sought the response of a senior journalist about these taped conversations, he candidly deposed that what they did was utterly unprofessional. He conceded that journalists do speak to various sources as it is their job to fathom out and reveal the truth but they ought not get involved in lobbying for anyone and certainly the taped conversations show that they transgressed the line of propriety, the lakshman rekha. More so, senior journalists, as they were, they knew when they made such a transgression,” the report said.
However, the parliamentary committee did not itself make any comment on the role of journalists in the Radia tapes. “The committee believes that no journalist who values self-reputation, credibility and treasures the freedom of media will ever indulge in the act incompatible with the professional norms of journalistic conduct. The committee have unflinching belief and faith in a free, fearless, bold and credible press and the electronic media as such journalists are the sine-qua-non of a vibrant democracy of the people, for the people and by the people,” it said.
On the role of whistle-blowers, the panel recommended that they be extended appropriate and effective statutory protection from harassment, intimidation, demotion, physical or financial harm as an integral part of a multipronged strategy to bring greater transparency and probity in conduct of public affairs.
“Undoubtedly, the whistle-blowers, driven by the sense of probity in public affairs, took a calculated risk in help exposing the grave irregularities regardless of the perils of the venture they embarked upon,” the report said.
“When the committee sought the response of a senior journalist about these taped conversations, he candidly deposed that what they did was utterly unprofessional. He conceded that journalists do speak to various sources as it is their job to fathom out and reveal the truth but they ought not get involved in lobbying for anyone and certainly the taped conversations show that they transgressed the line of propriety, the lakshman rekha. More so, senior journalists, as they were, they knew when they made such a transgression,” the report said.
However, the parliamentary committee did not itself make any comment on the role of journalists in the Radia tapes. “The committee believes that no journalist who values self-reputation, credibility and treasures the freedom of media will ever indulge in the act incompatible with the professional norms of journalistic conduct. The committee have unflinching belief and faith in a free, fearless, bold and credible press and the electronic media as such journalists are the sine-qua-non of a vibrant democracy of the people, for the people and by the people,” it said.
On the role of whistle-blowers, the panel recommended that they be extended appropriate and effective statutory protection from harassment, intimidation, demotion, physical or financial harm as an integral part of a multipronged strategy to bring greater transparency and probity in conduct of public affairs.
“Undoubtedly, the whistle-blowers, driven by the sense of probity in public affairs, took a calculated risk in help exposing the grave irregularities regardless of the perils of the venture they embarked upon,” the report said.
Download
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
Download
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
Related Articles
Public Accounts Committee summons Sebi chief Madhabi Puri Buch and othersADVERTISEMENT
