Selective omission of news is also a form of ‘paid news’ and the Press Council of India (PCI) has recommended its inclusion in the category of paid news, said Chairman of PCI Justice CK Prasad, while talking to mediapersons during an interaction organised by Journalists’ Union of Uttarakhand, here on Monday.
He said Parliament would decide on the guidelines for paid news and the issue was pending with it. The chairman also expressed his concern on lack of any welfare mechanism for journalists. He said he had already initiated a process of starting a welfare scheme for journalists so that they got some help at time of personal crisis.
“I think there is no problem with the accredited journalists but the actual problem lies in identifying the non accredited ones,” he quipped. On being asked about the lack of any clear cut advertisement accreditation policy in the State, Justice Prasad said the issue came up for discussions with the officials of State Information department and he was assured that a policy would soon be introduced.
He regretted the fact that many newspapers did not follow the journalistic norms while covering sensitive issues like riots. Justice Prasad informed that the complaints received by the Council broadly fell into two categories; complaints by the press against interference with its freedom and complaints against the press by any individual or authority.
The chairman of PCI clarified that the Council was concerned with print media only and it has no jurisdiction over electronic and social media. The programme was attended by secretary of PCI Vibha Bhargava and members Apurva Kumar Sharma, Vipin Mewar, Suman Gupta and K Amarnath. The president of Journalist Union of Uttarakhand Jay Singh Rawat welcomed the chairman and members of PCI.