17 October 2019 : The Indian Journalists Union has expressed grave concern over the Andhra Pradesh government’s threat to all media that it will slap defamation cases if these carry any story against it without concrete evidence. The decision taken at a Cabinet meeting is being viewed by the IJU as draconian and blatant intimidating tactics, which must be withdrawn immediately.

On Wednesday, Jagan Mohan Reddy’s Cabinet decided to empower secretaries of various departments to file defamatory cases against all types of media, including print, electronic, digital and social media, if they publish ‘defamatory news’-- any story against their respective departments without evidence. The departments have been told to do away with their rejoinders to negative stories and instead can take legal action within 24 hours against the media organisations after ascertaining the news stories’ veracity. 

In a statement, IJU Interim President Geetartha Pathak and Secretary General and IFJ Vice President Sabina Inderjit said that while all journalists must uphold the basic and good standards of journalism, the decision of the AP Cabinet to browbeat the media is simply unacceptable. It would impact the freedom of the press and more so investigative reportage. The decision of the Government is like hanging the Sword of Damocles over the head of journalists and giving undue advantage to the departments to cover their shortcomings through lengthy legal cases.

The IJU trashed the reason cited for this order, i.e.  “Certain print, electronic and social media are deliberately trying to tarnish the image of the Government and government officials by spreading false news with malafide intent,” saying that ‘critical’ reporting is not necessarily malafide. While journalists must respect the thumb rule of taking the government version in their story and not indulge in fake news, noted the IJU, the government must be open to constructive criticism and not indulge in gagging the media.