In yet another constraint on media, the government of India has released Central Media Accreditation Guidelines-2022, which includes a stringent provision under which the accreditation is liable to be suspended or withdrawn if a journalist "acts in a manner which is prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence," stated the Press Information Bureau (PIB) on February 7.
The Central Media Accreditation Guidelines, 2022, come after various journalist groups have questioned the manner in which the Union government has arbitrarily changed practices associated with the process of accreditation.
According to the guidelines, accredited media persons have been prohibited from using the words “Accredited to the government of India” on public/social media profile, visiting cards, letter heads or on any other form or any published work.
In the case of digital news publishers, the general terms of accreditation would apply. News aggregators will not be considered. The digital news publishers applying for accreditation should have furnished requisite information to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting under Rule 18 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code), Rules, 2021, and have not violated the rules.
The website should have continuously operated for at least one year. The Editor of the news portal should be an Indian national. The website should have a registered office in India and the correspondents should be based in Delhi or National Capital Region.
The guidelines put out by the Ministry raise further concerns since they leave it to the discretion of government nominated officials to assess what is defamatory or prejudicial to the sovereignty or integrity of India while deciding on whether a journalist’s accreditation should be suspended or withdrawn.
Providing a conduct-related and interpretation-based approach, one of the clauses pertaining to suspension or withdrawal of accreditation lays down the grounds for such action if a journalist “acts in a manner which is prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality of in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence.”
In a letter to Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur, the Press Club of India which has thousands of working journalists as its members, had in early January this year stated that “since after Independence, the facility of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) accreditation card, after due investigation of the journalists’ credentials, has been granted to media persons for enabling their unhindered visits and access to the government offices and institutions.”
