Speaker Om Birla flags idea to curb journalists’ access to Central Hall of Parliament

The subject came in the course of the committee’s discussion on various proposals, including setting up a directorate of information centre in Parliament for facilitating interface between MPs and various government departments to help members wit...

PTI
The Speaker is learnt to have told members that he was not planning to do anything immediately.
New Delhi: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday told the general purposes committee of the Lok Sabha that “there is a proposal” to curtail access of journalists to the Central Hall of Parliament, according to members of the committee. While some BJP members backed the ‘proposal’, some senior opposition members in the panel are learnt to have told the Speaker that giving journalists who meet prescribed norms access to the Central Hall was part of a tradition and denying them access would go against the spirit of press freedom and amount to curtailing the role of the fourth estate, integral to functioning of Parliament.

The members also urged the Speaker to hold discussions with various stakeholders, including journalists’ committee in Parliament, on the merit of the ‘proposal’ before reaching a decision. The Speaker is learnt to have told members that he was not planning to do anything immediately.

The subject came in the course of the committee’s discussion on various proposals, including setting up a directorate of information centre in Parliament for facilitating interface between MPs and various government departments to help members with official work, it is learnt.

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Business News › News › Politics › Speaker Om Birla flags idea to curb journalists’ access to Central Hall of Parliament
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