Time Has Come To Reorganize The Press Council Of India With All Television Channels, Radio And Digital Platforms Under Its Jurisdiction

By Nava Thakuria, New Age Islam 27 May 2025 Something astonishing is happening in the world’s largest democracy, where the country’s statutory autonomous body Press Council of India (PCI) remains seemingly non-functional for over eight months. The quasi-judicial institution, which is assigned to safeguard freedom of the press as well as maintain & improve the standards of newspapers & news agencies in the south Asian nation, is running without constituting its 15th Press Council, even though the term of 14th council expired on 5 October 2024 (https://www.presscouncil.nic.in/TermsOfCouncilPCI.aspx). Needless to mention that the PCI was initially set up in 1966 under the Press Council Act 1965 and later re-established in 1979 following the Press Council Act 1978 to ensure the freedom and quality of the mainstream media. The council enjoys a three-year term and the continuity broke last year as the chairperson did not initiate to constitute a new council on time. Terming the delay in the constitution of a new council as surprising, various media bodies urged the concerned authorities to do the needful as early as possible. Many of them also demanded to empower the PCI bringing the news channels, radio and digital platforms under its jurisdiction and rename it as Media Council of India. The PCI comprises a chairman (by convention a retired Supreme Court judge is assigned) and 28 members where 13 individuals represent the professional journalists out of whom 6 need to be editors of newspapers and 7 working journalists. Another 6 members represent the management of newspapers (including the owners), 2 each taken from the big, medium and small newspapers, whereas 1 member represents the news agencies. Two houses of Parliament usually send 5 members, and 3 individuals are nominated by the University Grants Commission, Bar Council of India and Sahitya Academy from the various fields of education, law and literature. Indian scribe’s bodies are also demanding to scrap the recent changes in the PCI to pick up members from various press clubs instead of the national union of working journalists. They argue that the press clubs are mandated usually for recreational activities and their coverage areas normally stick to a particular region, city or town. Press clubs often give memberships to non-working journalists (like academicians, writers, film personalities and also diplomats) to enhance their influences. Moreover, the press club/press guild/ media club can not have an all India body with representatives from various parts of the vast country. On the other hand, the recognised journalist’s unions are normally represented by the members from most parts of India. Indian Journalists Union (IJU), having affiliates in the States and UTs of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, Jharkhand, Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Orissa, Sikkim, etc and supporting over 23,000 members, approached the court seeking justice for the professional scribes across the country. Meanwhile, All India Working News Cameramen’s Association has challenged the PCI for not including its members even after fulfilling all necessary criteria. The billion plus nation today nurtures nearly 100,000 publications (endorsed by the Registrar of Newspapers for India) in various languages and frequencies (of publication. It also supports nearly 400 satellite news channels along with thousands of portals, WhatsApp channels and other digital media outlets. The revenues collected (from both selling and advertisements) by the Indian newspapers continued shrinking after the Covid-19 pandemic, when the alternate media outlets started dominating the financial market space. However, many print observers believe that the traditional media will slowly recover its abrupt loss. Resurgence in readership is expected as the digital fatigue driven consumers will soon turn back to print media outlets for reliable information. It’s estimated that the Indian print media will increase the number of readers almost twice by 2030. Newspaper industry in northeast India faces enormous troubles for its survival. The rapid growth of digital platforms has already put a serious challenge in front of the media houses. The corona disaster made the situation more complicated causing a drastic fall in the circulation and readership of all newspapers across the region. Some of the prominent media houses have already ceased publications and remaining media groups start solely depending on government advertisement-revenues, which often come with many inherent conditions. Amidst all troubles, the region with eight States comprising 60 million population nurtures hundreds of newspapers in different languages including English, Hindi, Asomiya, Bengali, Mizo, Manipuri, Khasi, Bodo, Karbi, etc. Probably time has come to reorganize the PCI with the inclusion of all television channels, radio and digital platforms under its jurisdiction. The dignified institution however enjoys very limited power for enforcing guidelines and even it cannot penalize the newspapers, news agencies as well as the concerned editors and working journalists for violation of the prescribed guidelines. In reality, the PCI can only overview the functioning of newspapers and periodicals. Nonetheless, it enjoys the authority to make observations if conducts of the government are found not appropriate in regards to the guaranteed freedom of the press and hence the council should be reactivated, realigned and empowered. URL: https://www.newageislam.com/current-affairs/press-council-of-india-channels-radio-digital-platforms/d/135674 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism