The Press Council of India has advised newspapers to publish the work of foreign media “with due verification”.

“The council is of the view that unregulated circulation of the foreign content is not desirable. Hence, it advises the media to publish foreign extracts in Indian newspapers with due verification as the reporter, publisher and editor of such newspaper shall be responsible for the contents irrespective of the source from which it is received,” the council said in an advisory issued on Wednesday.

The Press Council is an autonomous body which is supposed to safeguard press freedom and set a code of conduct for the print media and journalists.

The advisory was issued, the council said, after it had “considered references received from various quarters by the government about the responsibility of Indian newspapers in publishing foreign contents”.

According to an unmanned official quoted by the Hindustan Times, the advisory is meant to fix legal responsibility. “There were concerns about who will be held responsible in case of content that is published from foreign sources or from foreign authors. The PCI received submissions about this from the readers as well as the government so it was decided that the legal responsibility of what is published will rest with the Indian publication that prints the content,” the official told the daily.