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Tag: journalists

  • Journalists welfare fund extended to electronic, non-accredited media

    Journalists welfare fund extended to electronic, non-accredited media

    NEW DELHI: Even journalists not accredited to the Press Information Bureau (PIB), and electronic mediapersons, are now entitled of financial help under the Journalists Welfare Fund.

    This follows amendment of rules, which also included increasing the ex-gratia payment.

    According to Information and Broadcasting Ministry secretary Raghu Menon, an ex-gratia of Rs 500,000 would be paid to the family in the event of the demise of a mediaperson on duty, a maximum of Rs 300,000 would be given for treatment, and Rs 200,000 for injury.

    The scheme was formulated in 2001-02 and provided for payment of ex-gratia relief of Rs 100,000 to journalists or to their families in case of death, permanent disability or extreme hardship on account of the journalist’s death.

    The scheme has been extended with effect from 8 April to cover electronic mediapersons also.

    Upto Rs 500,000 would be provided to the family under extreme hardship on account of the journalist’s death or permanent disability, he said.

  • Journalists can be prosecuted for sting operations: CBI

    Journalists can be prosecuted for sting operations: CBI

    NEW DELHI : Journalists can be prosecuted on corruption charges for conducting sting operations to expose corruption in public life, according to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

    The CBI told the Supreme Court that a party to a sting operation, allegedly undertaken to expose corruption by public servants, can be liable for prosecution under the Prevention of Corruption Act, if he/she does not inform the law enforcing agency before or immediately after the sting.

    A bench headed by Justice Altmas Kabir admitted petitions filed by journalist Arvind Vijaymohan and businessman Rajat Prasad who are facing prosecution for their role in a sting operation. The petitions challenge the 30 May 2008 order of the Delhi High Court dismissing their plea against framing of charges by a special CBI court in Delhi.

    The video showed then Environment Minister Dilip Singh Judeo allegedly receiving Rs 900,000 bribe from an Australian firm in exchange for mining rights in Chhattisgarh on 5 November 2003.

    Senior counsel Harish Salve who appeared for the petitioners said journalists exposing corruption in public life could not be prosecuted as they acted like ‘whistleblowers’.

    He drew the court’s attention to the NDTV sting operation case in which the court praised the channel for exposing the nexus between the accused and the prosecution and no action was taken against the journalists.

    The CBI, however, has said a party to a sting operation can also be prosecuted when there is active inducement by the sting party or when there are other vested interests other than the public interest.

    The probe agency asserted: “Law enforcement is exclusively a function of government machinery. Others can only help the competent/intended government institution in enforcing the law of the land but can never do the job independently taking law into their hands keeping the intended government machinery at bay.”

  • South Asia 2007: bloodiest and most difficult for journalists; 25 journalists and media workers killed

    NEW DELHI:The year just ended, 2007, was the bloodiest and most difficult year for the journalists in South Asia, according to the South Asia Media Commission.

    The journalists and media outlets suffered from horrendous conditions in the conflcit-ridden regions and faced unprecedented restrictions and forced closures in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. Twenty journalists and four media workers were killed in South Asia in 2007. Pakistan topped the table with seven deaths followed by Sri Lanka with six and Afghanistan with five killings in the line of duty. Three journalists were killed in Nepal. One media worker in Afghanistan and three media workers lost their lives in India.

    Amid debate on sting operations and foreign investment in Indian media, attacks on media freedom from official agencies and non-state actors made the news. The media situation showed disturbing trends — arrogance by the authorities, especially in the states, misplaced enthusiasm to “reform” the media, and intolerance of militant groups, evident in disproportionate, violent reaction to publication of the accounts of their activities, not to their liking.

    Three media workers died when protesters set fire to the daily Dinakaran’s office in the town of Madurai. The protesters were angry at a survey in the paper which found their leader MK Azhagiri to be less popular than his brother and political rival MK Stalin. The two are sons of veteran politician and state Chief Minister M Karunanidhi. In Hyderabad, the activists of MIM, Majlis Itthadul Muslimen, attacked the chief editor and owner of an Urdu daily, Siasat, which had carried material, critical of a legislator of their party. In Guwahati, ULFA threatened a city-based satellite news channel with closure, in case a report against the organization was not substantiated within a specified period. In Mumbai members of a little known Hindu Rashtrya Sena attacked the Star News headquarters, because the channel had “glorified” the elopement of a Hindu girl with a Muslim boy.

    The government announced its plan to regulate broadcast services through an official agency causing a big uproar by media organizations and forcing it to defer it. The media representatives favoured formulation of a code by the profession itself. Self-regulation will be in the interest of the profession and prevent the government from moving against the media on one pretext or the other.

    Anti-media moves and threats by non-state players were equally disturbing with both the electronic and the print media being at the receiving end.

    In Pakistan, where free media flourished with the vibrant induction of private TV channels, the private electronic media faced worst times with successive draconian amendments made to the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority Ordinance and, later, imposition of an arbitrary media code that took life out of the private TV channels. As the Pervez Musharraf government that took pride in allowing private TV channels panicked over massive public outrage against the suspension of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, it clamped down on private electronic media that sympathized with the cause of independence of the judiciary. Faced with the constitutional and judicial hurdles to legitimize sitting army chief’s controversial election as president, the military regime not only once again put the constitution into abeyance and suspended the fundamental rights by imposing a sate of emergency, but also took off the air all news channels and imposed blanket restrictions on free debate and live coverage of events, the Commission report says. The restrictions continue to keep the election campaign of most popular parties at low key. Under the new amendments made to PEMRA and the Press, Newspapers, News Agencies and Books Registration Ordinance (PNNABRO), the TV owners and journalists can be imprisoned for three years and a fine up to Rs. one million and a publication can be suspended for a month without notice.

    A report issued by Commission Chairman N Ram says the journalists suffered immensely in the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. In Afghanistan – especially in the Pakhtun belt across the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan – the journalists had to pay heavily amid the cross-fires of adversaries. They became victim to the guns of not only Taliban-Qaeda extremists, but also of various other forces, including the warlords and IASF. The Afghan authorities also showed short temper in tolerating criticism. Most worrisome was the introduction of illegal FM radio stations promoting hate and violence in the tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

    In Sri Lanka, as the internecine ethnic conflict grew out of proportion, media persons and outlets became more vulnerable to conflicting pressures. The Government of President Mahinda Rajapakse and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam competed in enforcing restrictions on the media.

    However, Nepal and Bangladesh presented a mixed picture due to a difficult and tenuous transition. If the Maldives remained, as usual, a difficult country for journalists since many decades, Bhutan presented a case of healthy but careful opening for media with the advent of constitutional monarchy and introduction of democracy.

    The most encouraging feature of 2007 was the valiant resistance put up by the media and the civil society against the curbs on freedom of expression and the right to know in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. The bodies of working journalists, in particular, deserve our praise for putting up protracted resistance to the curbs imposed on media. The solidarity expressed by the media community across South Asia and world-wide was worth noting.

    The other signatories to the report are Secretary General Najam Sethi, and Regional Coordinator Husain Naqi.

  • News as trivial pursuit

    News as trivial pursuit

    We have been rising to majestic heights in our indignation over the proposed Broadcast Bill. Control us? The mature, responsible, credible Indian media? Curtail our freedom? Nonsense! And then we are outed by the police. A fake ‘sting operation’ by Live India (née Janmat) TV ‘exposed’ Delhi schoolteacher Uma Khurana supplying schoolgirls for prostitution. A lynch mob attacked Uma and the police clapped her in jail. The drama was dutifully recorded by the media. Uma was swiftly sacked. A week later, we hear that she had been framed.

     

    How shocking, said the media, but it’s an exception. We still don’t need your content code, thanks, we know what’s best. Keep your blipping Broadcast Bill away from us.

     

    However, voluntary self-regulation is tricky. Maybe the Press Council of India should be expanded to include TV and radio and given some teeth – dentures would do – to effectively regulate the media. For as a mortified media professional I have to admit that this scam is not an isolated example of the media’s bad behaviour. Our determined move from news as information to news as entertainment has blurred both our vision and the once inviolable line between reality and drama. Now we offer gossip, titillation, trivia and unreal aspirations as news, brushing aside boring issues of social concern, trampling sensitivities, infringing privacy, tossing aside ethics and humanity in our effort to be the hottest honey-trap available.

     

    Media as a trivial pursuit erodes public trust
    _______________****__________________

    Take some big stories of the recent past: Uma is framed, ex-model Gitanjali is re-discovered as a beggar, athlete Santhi Sounderajan apparently attempts suicide, freed Sanjay Dutt goes to Vaishno Devi, freed Salman Khan goes home, and MPs and journalists continue to pick bones with Ronen Sen’s ‘headless chicken’. Meanwhile, floods claim almost 700 lives and affect millions in Bihar, and displace over 70 lakh in Assam; farmers continue to kill themselves in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala. We gave them short, customary coverage like brief, dutiful visits to elderly aunts, and returned quickly to our riveting game of trivial pursuits.

     

    Unfortunately, the freedoms we enjoy are for our role in educating and informing our audience, for helping them make informed choices that sustain democracy. Media as a trivial pursuit erodes public trust.

     

    We urgently need self-regulation by a representative body like the Press Council to get back to being a responsible and ethical media
    _____****_____

    And Live India’s scam is not even journalism, it is a criminal act of misrepresentation, using media as a weapon for personal vendetta, fabricating footage to wilfully defame and destroy a victim and incite violence. It doesn’t merit another debate on sting operations, this was not one. It needs to be dealt with as a crime.

     

    But the other examples represent bad journalism. Former model Geetanjali Nagpal is spotted begging in Delhi. Instantly, she is headline news, portrayed as a drug addict. The media rips the last vestige of dignity off the unfortunate woman, invading her privacy, sensationalising, offering details of her private life, presenting speculation as fact. She turns out to be mentally ill, not an addict. We cannot look beyond gossip value, cannot discuss larger issues of mental health, social security or homelessness. (We have an estimated 18 million street kids, plus possibly as many adults as street dwellers, but they aren’t sexy enough.)

     

    Santhi Sounderajan’s attempted suicide is gossip, too. Headlined as ‘Tainted athlete’ or ‘Sex-test failed athlete’ Santhi’s identity as an excellent sportsperson is erased by that of a curiosity of unspecified gender. After her failed gender test robbed her of her silver medal at the Asian Games last year, our media had shown no sensitivity. Even now, we don’t go beyond the curiosity factor to look at the third sex’s lack of rights and opportunities.

     

    Ronen Sen’s fowl story illustrates irresponsible journalism again. Getting your source into trouble for the sake of a delicious quote harms the atmosphere of trust and openness essential for constructive journalism. And then, larger issues of strategic partnership were obfuscated as we lost our head over a chicken. It didn’t help citizens to take informed decisions on the nuclear issue. Such frivolous frenzy reduces democratic decision-making to taking sides based on ignorance and muscle-flexing. Besides, it showed an embarrassing ignorance of English idiom. ‘Running around like a headless chicken’ means thoughtless rushing about; it doesn’t imply you’re a chicken. Like ‘as cool as a cucumber’ doesn’t accuse you of being a cucumber.

     

    Leading you through an exciting maze of trivia and gossip, the media confuses your priorities. So when a lowly constable hugs Sanjay Dutt he is instantly suspended, but no action is initiated against the policemen and politicians accused in the Bombay riots even after 14 years.

     

    We are losing our grip. We urgently need self-regulation by a representative body like the Press Council to get back to being a responsible and ethical media. We cannot protect our own freedoms unless we protect the freedoms and rights of others.

     

    (The Author is Editor, The Little Magazine. She can be reached at sen@littlemag.com)

     

    This article was first published in DNA (Daily News & Analysis) on 11 September 2007.

     

    (The views expressed here are those of the author and Indiantelevision.com need not necessarily subscribe to the same)

  • Wage Board for journalists, non-journalists soon: Oscar Fernandes

    NEW DELHI: A wage board for newspaper and news industry employees will be constituted soon by the government.

    Labour minister Oscar Fernandes told mediapersons that ”The Wage Board will be constituted in a few days without any further delay.”

    ”The government has already approved the constitution of two wage boards, one for working journalists and the other for non-journalist newspaper employees,” the minister said.

    This had been approved in accordance with Section 9 and 13(C) of working journalists and other newspaper employees (Conditions of Service) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1955, he added.

    The minister was speaking on the sidelines of a meet relating to the forthcoming 41st Indian Labour Conference beginning on 27 April which is to be inaugurated by prime minister Manmohan Singh.