Srinagar, Apr 03: Kashmir Editors Guild (KEG) on Tuesday strongly reacted to the abuse of reportage for crushing Kashmir’s tourism economy. It said the recent misreports are part of a sustained media blitzkrieg to portray Kashmir negatively.
The media body said that a sustained campaign has been initiated to misrepresent facts and fictionalise events that are hitting hard the media as a credible source of information and the local economy.
“Over the past few years, a sustained and fabricated campaign has been initiated wherein basic principles of reporting and ethics in journalism are being compromised. Kashmir is being deliberately projected negatively,” KEG said in a statement.
The media is increasingly being used as a tool to promote fake and fabricated news which smacks of ill intentions to damage the Kashmir economy.
Cautioning those responsible for such acts, KEG asked the larger media within and outside the state to ensure that while facts must be reported, the fiction and fake news should not be used to impact the local eco-systems.
EGI warns against ‘policing the media’
New Delhi, Apr 02: The Editors Guild of India today condemned the Union Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry’s directive on ‘fake news’, which was later withdrawn on PMO’s intervention.
By notifying that the I&B Ministry will penalise any journalist or media organisation publishing fake news, the government is “arrogating for itself the role of policing the media,” the Guild said in a statement.
It said this would open the door for frivolous complaints to harass journalists and organisations to fall in line.
The Guild acknowledges the intervention of the Prime Minister’s Office to withdraw the I & B Ministry’s notification but remains deeply disturbed that faith continues to be reposed on the Press Council of India to deliver justice on such issues, the Editor’s Guild said while pointing out that the recent reconstitution of the Press Council of India (PCI) has been done in a manner that gives rise to doubts over the independence of the institution and its ability to play neutral umpire.
The Guild’s nominees to the Council were disallowed on technical grounds, it said.
It said the recent reconstitution of the Central Press Accreditation Committee has also raised questions over the non-transparent processes being followed by the I&B Ministry as the Guild’s application was ignored.
The Guild also points out that ‘fake news’ is a process that cannot be left to governments to initiate action when, on many occasions, the governments and the parties in power – both at the Centre and States – are charged with propagating ‘fake news’ themselves, it said.
It said the news organisations are not the only source of generation of fake news as the country is awash with digital platforms of all hues and opinions that operate without constraints and have the potential to cause far more damage.
The statement signed by president Raj Chengappa, general secretary Prakash Dubey, and Kalyani Shankar, Treasurer, said Guild has always stood for observing the highest journalistic standards and is willing to work with the Central government, State governments and media bodies to define what can be constituted as ‘fake news’ and take action against those found guilty of propagating such news without compromising on the independence and freedom of the media.
