Amritsar Resolutions (October 27-28, 2018)

RESOLUTIONS

IJU Condemns Govt bid to Control Media Institutions

The Plenary of the IJU held in Amritsar on 27-28 October, expresses its deep concern over the government’s manoeuvres to control the media and impinge on the right to freedom of expression and access to information.

The IJU in particular cautions the Information and Broadcasting Ministry against meddling in the reconstitution of media institutions and undermining their sanctity. The reconstitution of the 13th Press Council of India is mired in controversy. Its Chairman chose to do away with well-established procedure and interpreted the rules and guidelines perversely impacting the neutrality and credibility of the Council. He held a meeting of the Council, inviting only 8 government nominees, out of the total membership of 28, and took decisions which are clearly illegal.

The IJU condemns the above procedure and has asked its members along with its partner organisations to be on its guard and ensure that the undemocratic decisions are overturned and that the Council’s credibility is restored.

Likewise, the I&B Ministry has sought to control the media through the reconstituted Central Press Accreditation Committee (CPAC), by selecting a handful of individual members with the media organisations being outrightly left out, despite seeking their nominations. The fact that the CPAC has been reconstituted without the representatives of organisations of working journalists, editors is a clear violation of stipulated guidelines and amounts to veiled censorship. The IJU demands the Govt to reconstitute the CPAC with the representatives of the journalists’ organisations, without any further delay.

The Plenary noted that the media has played a critical role as the fourth estate in strengthening public opinion and enhancing India’s vibrant democracy, and therefore it was important that media organisations are not tampered with. The government must desist from adopting surreptitious ways to tame the media and throttle the voice of dissent through well-established institutions.

IJU Demands ICC in media organisations

The Plenary of the IJU held on October 27-28 taking note of the MeToo # movement in media in the country, expressed solidarity with women journalists for their courage to blow the lid on sexual harassment at the hands of their editor bosses and at the work place.

The IJU not only condemns the cases that are coming out, but also former Minister of External Affairs MJ Akbar for filing a criminal defamation case against Priya Ramani to intimidate her and others who have accused him of sexually harassing them, when he was the then editor in various dailies.

The IJU is firm that there has to be zero tolerance against sexual harassment and demands from all media organisations that they must have the Internal Complaints Committee’s in place without any further delay. At the same time, they must ensure that the composition of these committees are genuine and provide relief to the complainants and act against the accused.

The IJU also demands from the Government, specially the Women and Child Ministry as well the GoM constituted to ensure that the managements set up the ICCs in lines with the Supreme Court directives. The IJU will not view this as interference in press freedom, but will ensure that the apex court directives are followed.

The IJU also calls upon its State leaders to set up Gender Cells in its unions as well as apprise its members of the guidelines, which spell out what amounts to sexual harassment. The Plenary hopes that the MeToo# movement would ensure safer environment for women journalists in future and that zero tolerance against sexual harassment is advocated across media organisations.