NEW DELHI, 25 Feb: Journalists on Friday held a protest meet against the new Press Information Bureau accreditation guidelines and demanded that the government withdraw it.
In a resolution passed at the protest meet, the journalists noted that the new accreditation guidelines have been formulated without any consultation with the stakeholders. They called upon Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Minister Anurag Thakur to organize a meeting comprising “all stakeholders” for its review.
“We demand that the government revoke these CMAC (central media accreditation committee) guidelines which bear an uncanny resemblance to the Defamation Press Bill of 80s and call upon the information and broadcasting minister to organize a meeting comprising all stakeholders and review the salient points of these guidelines afresh,” the resolution read.
“We firmly resolve that granting accreditation to mediapersons is not a favour by the government. On the contrary, the government is constitutionally duty-bound to grant access to media persons for doing press coverage under Article 19,” it added.
After the passage of the resolution, journalists staged a protest against the new accreditation guidelines near the Press Club of India premises.
Later, representatives of various journalist bodies submitted a memorandum to the I&B ministry.
“More than 200 journalists have signed the memorandum, extending their support to the protest,” Press Club of India President Umakant Lakhera said. (PTI)