Shown their place, told their craft

Perhaps - and we say perhaps only with a maybe - journalists, especially of the political variety, are reluctant to admit that India's press freedom is, as the Venetian advocate Portia would have said, strain'd. After all, that wouldn't show them up in a good light, would it? Be that as it may, the latest news from the world of political coverage is that on Monday, mediapersons were directed to stick to the media enclosure when covering Parliament. They were told to refrain from speaking to parliamentarians outside the main entrance as has been standard practice. Thankfully, instead of dismissing charges of narrowing the space of parliamentary khabar coverage as 'merely crowd control' measures, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla reportedly assured that a committee of political parties - much like a parliament of owls - will look into the issue.

For the public at large, this must be much ado about nothing. MPs speak in parliament, journos take it down, outlets will print, upload or air what they say. Easy-peasy. Quite. But the fact that different PoVs, off-the-records, body language... all form parts of nuanced coverage - especially political coverage - may not register for the meme-friendly. Which suits most MPs fine, who prefer stating to answering, addressing to press conferencing. For the sake of being better informed, may the press push back.