‘Journalists shall lose their accreditation if a complaint of fake news is registered against them,’ an April 2 amendment to the guidelines for accreditation of journalists, issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, stated. The press release has now been withdrawn with the Prime Minister’s Office asking the I&B Ministry to leave the decision pertaining to fake news to press bodies. 

The amendment to the accreditation guidelines was uploaded late last night on the Press Information Bureau’s website and has invited a lot of flak. This has ranged from front-page condemnation to editorials, and journalists calling it an attack, a ‘dictatorial notification’ on/against free speech on social media. 

But what does it all mean? Here’s a lowdown on the organisations in the limelight, what it means to be an accredited journalist, the benefits availed and what the real intention behind the circular may have been.

The Accreditation Authority 

The Central Press Accreditation Committee (CPAC) is appointed by the Government of India to grant accreditation to the representatives of various media organisations. It is chaired by the Press Information Bureau’s Principal Director General and has a maximum of 19 other members. Press Information Bureau or the PIB is the government’s nodal agency that disseminates information and updates on the government and its decision to the media. In simple terms, it is a gateway to the Central government’s communications.

Current Committee members include Dainik Jagran’s Prashant Mishra, Times Now’s Navika Kumar, ABP News’ Kanchan Gupta, J Gopikrishna of The Pioneer and ANI’s Smita Prakash. AP Frank Noronha is the chairperson of the panel.

The Committee is constituted for a period of two years from the date of its first meeting and is formed on the basis of the nominations received from various national-level associations or unions of journalists and media persons. It generally meets once in a quarter.

What does accreditation mean?

As defined by the Government of India, accreditation means “recognition of news media representatives by the Government of India for purpose of access to sources of information in the Government and also to news materials, written or pictorial, released by the Press Information Bureau and/or other agencies of the Government of India.”

It is given to news media representatives in accordance with the Central Press Accreditation Rules, 1999 (Annexure I), and with due approval of the Central Press Accreditation Committee. While the PIB accreditation is limited to journalists from Delhi-NCR, states have similar accreditation procedures.

What does it really mean to be an accredited journalist?

An accreditation is not just an official recognition of being a media person. Apart from the credibility and easy access to many government offices — including access to restricted areas — accreditation also allows journalists to avail certain benefits. Some of these include:

1. Access to accreditation index and phone directory (also available on PIB’s website)

2. Regular access to government updates 

3. Accredited journos and news organisations can avail custom duty exemption on imports of professional equipment, including laptops, typewriters and fax machines

4. An accredited journalist can avail a one-time ex-gratia relief on an urgent basis for himself or his family under the Journalist Welfare Scheme. It came into effect from February 1, 2013. The fund, maintained by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, includes assistance of up to Rs 5 lakh to the journalist’s family, in case of extreme hardships faced on account of the journalist’s death. (This can be accessed by non-accredited journalists as well, in accordance with certain guidelines.)

5. An accredited journalist is also eligible for a 50 per cent concession on railway tickets for unlimited travel on bona fide press work. The concession extends to family members, who can avail it twice during a year. 

6. Benefits extended to accredited journalist include benefits made available under the Central Government Health Scheme, such as OPD treatment in their respective dispensaries. 

Among other benefits are access to press lounges, telephone connections on priority, PIB-conducted press tours, hospitality grants as well as residential accommodation made available in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Ministry of Urban Development. This could vary depending on the respective state guidelines. 

Who gets these cards?

To be eligible for accreditation, a correspondent/cameraperson should have at least five years of full-time experience as a journalist, while a freelancer must have 15 years’ experience. For an organisation to be accredited, it has to have been operational for at least a year. 

To apply for the accreditation, the correspondent/cameraperson needs to present salary slips from present and previous employers, byline clippings, relieving letter, recommendation letter, certificates of educational and professional qualification, along with her photograph and the PIB form available on the website. In addition to these documents, a freelancer also needs to provide a chartered accountant-verified income certificate. 

Newspapers seeking accreditation need to provide a Registrar of Newspapers for India [RNI] certificate, circulation details and issues from the past six months to a year, depending on their periodicity. For web news media, the requirements include submitting details of news subscribers, proof of site updation, domain registration certificate, among others. The details about documents that need to be submitted by electronic media can be seen here. 

As of 2018, 2,403 journalists have PIB accreditation. 

What’s at stake?

But are these benefits the reason why accreditations are sought? To understand what’s really at stake for journalists, Newslaundry spoke to several journalists.

Speaking about the I&B’s press release on fake news, Amit Baruah, The Hindu’s resident editor, said: “This was a vindictive provision introduced by the government. Because no such provision exists in the existing accreditation guidelines issued by the Press Information Bureau. There is no talk about disqualification. So the idea seems to have been to silence individual journalists and, thereby, silence the press in general.” 

Baruah added, “While they claimed it was about fake news, the bottom line is fake news can be spread by anyone. It is a vindictive action — suspension of accreditation — and a signal to journalists that the government of the day may not be happy with some journalists. In a sense, it hits at the freedom of the press and it functions. It isn’t as much an issue of the accreditation. It is just that you want to hit journalists where you can.”  

A PIB-accredited reporter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Newslaundry, “As a reporter, when you are on the beat, accreditation helps you get access to government buildings. You can walk in without appointments, drop in and see people — it eases your way in. It is one of the basic documents needed when you apply for a Parliament pass.”

“After the PAC clears your accreditation — a combination of your organisation having the quota and you having that requisite experience — it goes to the Home Ministry, which sends a cop to verify the information you have submitted,” the reporter said, explaining how accreditation is a level of security clearance. “If I have to meet some official or the other, then every day I need a person to send a pass downstairs to the security guy — every day. If you are a beat correspondent, try doing it every day. See how quickly you get tired of it.” 

Citing instances where accreditation acts as a security check, the reporter added: “If there is a Prime Minister’s event, then it is very easy for ministries to say that only PIB-accredited journalists will be allowed access.”

The reporter also said that by way of PIB accreditation the government recognises a journalist’s right to its premises. “They can’t throw you out,” the reporter said and added: “When Budget became available online, the hard copies were distributed only to PIB-accredited journalists. A list would go from every organisation and copies handed out. This was before the online era really, when websites used to crash, so hard copies were very useful.”

Samrat, former editor of newspapers in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chandigarh, also spoke to Newslaundry on the matter. He, however, says that the popularity of such accreditation is not entirely owing to journalistic requirements. “You need it for covering Parliament and Assembly sessions. It also helps in gaining access to state secretariats, although you can always go and get a pass for each visit. But the thing is that it is especially popular in some quarters because of the government benefits it confers…things such as railway concessions, free trips with VIPs, and in some states, pensions and even quotas for flats. So apart from professional requirements, whatever they may or may not be, these other things are there. So what the government was doing was saying that if you’re not nice to us, you won’t get these carrots.”

Samrat added: “Taking away the accreditation is not going to stop anybody from doing journalism…if you look at the PIB list of accredited journalists you will find that most of the known journalists’ names are not there, but a lot of completely unknown names are there.” However, he admitted that if he had to do daily beat reporting on some select beats then he would probably need the PIB accreditation. Speaking of the government’s approach to fake news, Samrat added, “It was threatening to use the stick against serious news organisations and journalists. It would not have affected the shady websites peddling fake news. Instead, it would have affected people who are actually serious journalists for mainstream news organisations.”

Another PIB-accredited journalist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, emphasised why PIB accreditation matters. She said: “You can still access a government building or even cover Parliament without it. But a PIB card gives me the freedom to meet officers without the government trailing me. If I try to enter without a card, I will have to get a pass made.”

The journalist added, “You cannot get it done unless a bureaucrat or a PIB officer leaves a message for you at the gate. Let’s say, I met officer A and I do a story after that. That officer may not have even given me a story but the government may try to harass him after the story appears. Let’s say, I have a great rapport with the information officer. He or she leaves a message for me at the gate every day. I gain access on a daily basis, but once I do a story, a minister may want to know how I visited the building without a pass. They’ll check their records and can even ask the IO to not allow me in every day.”

Cultivating sources is extremely important in order to get valuable stories. And ensuring that the source’s identity is protected is critical.

The journalist added, “See, many journalists report without PIB (accreditation) even today. But having one makes my job much easier. I can focus on reporting without having to worry about the government snooping on me. There are housing, health benefits as well. But, frankly, most journalists won’t mind giving that up.”

Journalists also spoke about methods in which fake news can be better tackled. “There should be internal procedures in place in every newspaper or television channel or website. There should be a process of vetting and gatekeeping in place. And any journalist who is found to have deliberately written something wrong or fake, there should be a scrutiny of his/her work — and the editor concerned should deal with the incident of fake news in his/her organisation,” Baruah said.

Samrat also added that fake news should be dealt with on a case-to-case basis. “These are all issues of good judgment—good administrative judgment,” he added. 

Also read: Fake-na Mana Hai: Do we need a law to counter #FakeNews?

Also read: Six reasons why the #FakeNews guidelines need to be torn & trashed