NEW DELHI/From Our Burea
In an urgent letter to Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur, various journalist organisations, associations and unions under the aegis of Press Club of India discussed and protested the new PIB accreditation guidelines issued early this week.
The meeting, after a detailed discussion, strongly opposed the unilateral and unfair decision of the I&B Ministry in drastically altering the guidelines and forming a lopsided Central Media Accreditation Committee (CMAC).
Both the guidelines and the CMAC violate the existing guidelines framed by the Press Council of India, set up through an act of Parliament as the apex media body, the letter said.
Participants feared that these guidelines, if not opposed, may become model for adoption by the state governments, particularly those ruled by the BJP, to suppress freedom of press of journalists working in states and districts.
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