Journalists involved in fake news to lose accreditation. Is that enough?

In a major amendment in the Guidelines for Accreditation of Journalists, the government has decided to suspend the accreditation of journalists whoever would be involved in creating or propagating fake news. However, there seems to be some loopholes in the guidelines.

“Noticing the increasing instances of fake news in various mediums including print and electronic media, the Government has amended the Guidelines for Accreditation of Journalists,” said Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Now, on receiving any complaints of such instances of fake news, the same would get referred to the Press Council of India (PCI) if it pertains to print media and to News Broadcasters Association (NBA) if it relates to electronic media, for determination of the news item being fake or not.

As per the new guidelines, once creating or propagating of fake news by a correspondent or a journalist is determined by the regulating agencies, Press Council of India and News Broadcasters Association, the correspondent/journalist will have the accreditation suspended.

“While any confirmation of publication or telecast of fake news having been confirmed by any of these agencies, the accreditation shall be suspended for a period of 6 months in the first violation and for one year in the case of second violation and in the event of third violation it would be cancelled permanently,” the new guideline read.

A time period of 15 days will be given to the regulating agencies for determination of the news item to be fake.
“The Accreditation Committee of the Press Information Bureau which consists of representative of both PCI and NBA shall be invariably be reached out to for validating any accreditation request of any news media agency,” added the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

While examining the requests seeking accreditation, the regulatory agencies will examine whether the ‘Norms of Journalistic Conduct’ and ‘Code of Ethics and Broadcasting Standards’ prescribed by the PCI and NBA respectively are adhered to by the journalists as part of their functioning. It would be obligatory for journalists to abide by these guidelines.

“The main issue here is that there is no way mentioned, mentioned in the guidelines, how the journalist can actually present their cases,” Pratik Sinha, founder of fact-checking website Alt News told Exchange4Media.

The four pointer guideline also doesn’t mention anything about the cases in which journalists and sometimes ministers share/post fake news on social media in their personal capacity.

“Without even going into the merits of it, what is the definition of fake news? ” he further asked.

While speaking with Exchange4Media, Sinha also raised an important question and asked, “what about the stories that have been byline of the desk of some publication, incorrect information tweeted from handles of news organisations?” and added that “this cannot be another demonetisation like decision behind closed doors. There are people who are going to be affected by it. There needs to be more transparency to it before they announce such things.”

“If at all there is fake news from mainstream media it is not very often with the intention of malice. Although fact-checking has reduced. We are not looking at fake news spread by web portals which are purely with the intention of malice.

Instead of looking at fake news Sinha said, “this attempt to address this complex issue in a four para press release with no concrete structure can only be seen as an attempt to muzzle the media, especially with multiple elections coming up.”

Last week, Bengaluru Crime Branch arrested Mahesh Vikram Hegde, founder of Postcard News, for spreading fake news that, as per media reports, was booked under Section 66 of the Information Technology Act and Sections 153A of the IPC.

Hegde, who is widely supported by the right wing, according to police, tweeted photo of a Jain monk Upadhyaya Mayank Sagarji Maharaj, with a caption that read, “Very Sad news Yesterday in Karnataka Jain Muni, Attacked By Muslim Youth.” However, it was later found that the monk had actually been in a road accident.

Earlier this month, Smriti Irani, Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ministry, had said that her ministry was considering framing new laws to regulate the online content including on social media and websites.

The telecom regulator is also likely bring out a new consultation paper on whether apps, including those offering communication services such as WhatsApp or Skype, should be regulated or licensed.