A statement issued yesterday by the Delhi Union of Journalists said a Media Council needs to be set up on a priority basis to replace “the toothless Press Council and the NBDSA which more than often is a prisoner of indecision.”

 The journalists’ body expressed grave concern against the increasing policing of journalists and journalism in India in the past year, as reflected in the Human Rights Watch Report of 2023 which was released last week. You can read highlights of the report here. 

“The DUJ is of the view that the Human Rights Watch’s World Report 2023 released this week reflects the increasing policing of journalists and journalism in India today. According to the report, several journalists were arrested during the year including Mohammed Zubair and Rupesh Kumar Singh while others like Siddique Kappan continued to languish behind bars,” read the statement, adding that the government had “intensified and broadened their crackdown on activist groups and the media.” 

 DUJ also expressed concern against “the increasing tendency of flashing hate speech against communities especially targeting of minorities as pointed out by the Supreme Court which has even questioned the dithering of the News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority.”

However, the statement, signed by DUJ president SK Pande and general secretary Sujata Madhok, also called for a halt to “press bashing.”

The statement further noted that 2022 had also witnessed the “hostile” takeover of the news channel NDTV and the consequent spate of resignations from the channel, starting with anchor Ravish Kumar, followed by group president Suparna Singh, chief strategy officer Arijit Chatterjee, and chief technology and product officer Kawaljit Singh Bedi. 

As per the statement, this spate of resignations could multiply as the Adani group takes full control of the NDTV group. It noted that NDTV was one of the last channels that “reported somewhat independently, instead of merely mouthing government and corporate propaganda and amplifying divisive, communal hate speech.”

The journalist union also welcomed the Supreme Court’s recent observations on the role of TV channels in causing rifts in society and its directives to state governments and police to take action against those who promote hate speech.

The NBSDA counsel had noted that Sudarshan TV and Republic TV were not its members and that its code “ought to be incorporated into the programme code so that it would be applicable everywhere.”

DUJ said the long-term answer, in its opinion, lies in Parliament taking steps to have a statutory broad based Media Council,  comprising the entire wide spectrum media to replace the Press Council with some more powers, instead of giving the government policing powers or overriding powers to any other body.

It noted further that the Congress and BJP governments in the past had both recommended a Media Council with more teeth.