[BREAKING] Madras High Court directs creation of Press Council of Tamil Nadu in bid to clamp down on "fake journalists", paid news

With a view to tackle fake journalists, paid news and ill-intentioned media personnel and associations, the Madras High Court recently directed the Tamil Nadu government to create a Press Council of Tamil Nadu which would act as a State-level media regulatory body. (S Sekaran v. The S.Sekaran and ors).The order was passed by a Bench of Justices N Kirubakaran and P Velmurugan on Justice Kirubakaran's last working day before he retired from service. ."NEWS is expected But VIEWS are reported ... Many media houses very sadly report the news according to their views and ideology. One can have ideology/views but that should not be mixed with the contents of the news and it would amount to corrupt practice thrusting one's views on others", noted the order authored by Justice Velmurugan at the outset..Fake journalists have grown in such large numbers that genuine journalists are scared to identify them at press conferences for the fear of being heckled or attacked, the Court said."People know who are all fake, but they will have to keep quiet, because genuine journalist are too few in number. And they also want to avoid nasty scene at such events.".The Bench also cited the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to comment on the possible implications of giving "fake press" unrestricted access."One must keep in mind that assassins of our former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi himself were able to go close to him, because one of them (Sivarasan) acted out a ‘journalist’ role. Another such crime cannot be ruled out, if this trend of fake journalist continues", the order stated..The Court went on to emphasise that a "responsible media is necessary to sustain good democracy through dissemination of correct news/information sans sensationalism and committed to national interests."This role cannot fall to "evil people, anti-national forces, blackmailers and fraudsters", the Court remarked.."It is the responsibility of the Government and the recognized/established media organizations (Madras Union of Journalists, Chennai Press Club and Chennai Reporters' Guild) to ensure this", the Bench added.While many anti-social elements have been misusing press IDs as a "money-making device", the government has turned a blind eye to avoid the wrath of fake journalists, the Court said.."This needs to be stopped to ensure that journalism, the fourth pillar of democracy remains clean and strong", the Court opined. .To tackle these issues, the Court proceeded to issue numerous directions to the State government. .Directions issued to the State government.The State Government shall appoint a “Press Council of Tamil Nadu” headed by a retired Judge of the Supreme Court or High Court, and consisting of a team of experienced and reputed journalists (both working and retired), retired civil servants and Police officials in the rank of IAS and IPS, within a period of three months. The Council shall comprise representatives from the journalism industry as well as the government, and all members shall be serving journalists of standing and government servants. The members shall be on regular payroll of media houses and organisations, evidenced by salary slips, payment of TDS and circulation or viewership details, as the case may be. Loss of job on any account such as resignation, dismissal or death and disability shall result in their immediate exit from the board. The Council shall have sole authority to recognise press clubs and journalists associations or unions in the state of Tamil Nadu and it shall not allow or recognise formation or continuation of clubs or unions or associations based on caste, community or state boundaries. The Council shall conduct and approve elections to these clubs, unions and associations, and management of the clubs, unions and associations shall be vested with the elected team of office bearers only after such approval by the board. Press Council of Tamil Nadu should stipulate a period of election for each association and any of the association which do not conduct the election on time, shall automatically brought under the administration of Press Council of Tamil Nadu to be constituted. The Council shall join hands with reputed national and international bodies and offer training or refresher programmes for journalists regularly in order to keep the members of journalistic fraternity remain up to date with developments across the country and abroad. The board shall write to the government and obtain state assistance for the purpose. The proposed Press Council of Tamil Nadu shall decide about the number of journalists association in each city or town. The State Government shall not allot any house or grant free bus passes directly to any applicant journalists and shall only be routed through Press Council of Tamil Nadu which after due diligence can issue such benefits. The State Government shall prohibit conduct of State conferences or meeting by journalists associations without permission/approval of the Press Council of Tamil Nadu to be constituted which shall get the details regarding the source of income and other relevant details before giving permission for such conference/meeting by the associations. To curtail the menace of fake journalists, Council shall have power to identify fake journalists and lodge complaints against them to jurisdictional police. Members of public as also other affected people can send their complaints regarding fake journalists to the welfare board which shall inquire and initiate criminal action against such fake journalists because they are a menace and a threat to the civil society. The State shall make necessary amendments to the Accredition Rules within three months. The State Government is directed not to issue press stickers, ID cards and other benefits, unless the organisation or media house discloses the number of employees, salary steps, TDS details, tax paid to the government and proof that it sells certain number of copies or has certain viewership. The State Government/Press Council of Tamil Nadu shall not issue press ID cards or stickers to the print media, magazines, dailies unless there is proof of circulation of atleast 10,000 copies of their daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly and ID cards shall be increased or decreased proportionate to their circulation. After constitution of Press Council of Tamil Nadu, all journalists organizations shall be kept in the suspended animation, so that the election could be conducted for those organizations under the supervision of Press Council of Tamil Nadu, within a period of six months thereafter. People aggrieved by the fake news or motivated and agenda-based news could lodge complaints with the Press Council of Tamil Nadu which shall summon the news agency or media house or the reported concerned and probe the veracity of the complaints. Depending upon the finding, the Council shall have powers to order the source of the offending news item to carry a rejoinder or apology or publish the response of the de facto complainant prominently. The news agencies or media houses or journalists operating within the jurisdiction of the Council, shall be duty bound to receive and respond to the Council's summons and submit the details called for by the Council. The Government of Tamil Nadu shall comply with the above directions and file a compliance report within a period of four weeks, failing which the Director, Information and Public Relations Department shall appear before this Court..Other observations on Press and Media.The order stated that while India has got a robust media as the watchdog of democracy, it is not internationally reputed and the menace of paid news also afflicts the Indian media. .Many persons take the avatar of press persons only to threaten and blackmail politicians, government officials and others for unjust enrichment, the Court said. .Any person's image can be sullied without any basis through media publications and there is no control or supervision of "the so-called journalists who are indulging in illegal, unethical practice", the Court remarked. .Genuine press reporters are also sidelined in the process with "fake press people" taking over press associations and dominating the same, the Court went on to observe. As such, the Bench opined that the credentials of persons have to be verified before they are issued press identity cards. ."... many people having criminal background also claim to be press people and indulging in criminal activities using this as a shield like that of the many criminals who purchase law degrees and use it as a shield for their criminal activities. Since the image of the press off late is damaged because of the activities of the people who are claiming to be press reporters, the system has to be cleaned so that the interest of genuine journalists/press people will be protected", the Court added. .Further, the Court has commented, ."It has to be realized that media is now a multi-fanged genie that had got out of the bottle and has spread its vicious tentacle everywhere. It is difficult to put it back into the bottle, as everyone has tasted blood. The term ‘media’ now broadly comprises the traditional print media (dailies, weeklies, fortnightlies and monthlies), television and online portals. But nowadays YouTubers, who run their own ‘channels’ and bloggers who are active on their own blog page or do tweets or Instagram activists have also started calling themselves as media persons or ‘media influencers’.".In this regard, the Court also took note that the regulations are not very strict when it comes to online news portals.."Today, one can register a domain name and start a news portal tomorrow, with nil accountability. Everyone working for these portals goes around saying they are journalists, too. It is hard to make a sweeping statement that they are not journalists, given the stature many online portals have earned now", the Court said..While there is an accreditation system in place to grant accredited media personnel special access for reporting purposes, an issue taken up by the Court concerns the committee responsible for giving such accreditation."The problem is, many of this accreditation committee members themselves are stated to be either fake or retired or from news organisations and associations that exist only on paper. So even top journalists in this state have to get their accreditation cards signed by this committee which needs to be overhauled", the Court opined..The Bench also criticised the large number of press associations that have sprung up over the years, observing that membership in associations is also being misused by some."The biggest threat to media freedom, and right to speech and expression available to journalists, is the multitude of journalists’ associations that have sprung up in Chennai and districts. There is no regulation for these associations. It is said that 10 to 20 part-time journalists come together, float a fancy letter-pad association, and then start issuing identity cards with bold PRESS declaration on payment of anything from Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000. Part- time journalists use these cards to do katta panchayat or blackmail officials, businessmen and politicians at local levels", it was stated..Case background.The order was passed while disposing of a petition urging the High Court to direct the police to consider a representation to inquire into a report that allegedly conveyed false information on a long-pending temple idol theft case..The petitioner’s credentials itself came into question when the matter came up before the High Court. In response to the Court’s direction, the petitioner produced six identity cards to prove that he was a journalist.However, the Bench took serious note that one of the IDs so produced belonged to a police officer who had been suspended from service owing to his alleged involvement in the idol theft case. The odd turn of events prompted the Court to direct the petitioner to explain how he came to possess the former policeman’s ID. Going a step further, the Bench decided to look into the larger issue of fake journalists in the State as well..In its last order on August 19, 2021, the Court concluded that the petitioner cannot be termed a fake journalist. However, the Court expressed reservations as to whether he had approached the Court on behalf of another to stall progress in the temple idol theft case. ."As such, this court while not entirely rejecting the submissions placed by the petitioner in support of his stand that he is a reporter, we are of the view that he is the mouth piece of Kader Basha and filed this writ petition for a prayer which would divert the investigation in respect of idol theft cases and at the instance of some third parties to scuttle the idol theft case", the Court said. .The same petitioner had also registered protest over a Trust calling for public donations so that it may take steps to restore the High Court Bench hearing idol theft cases at the Madras High Court. .Finding the same to be improper, the Court has directed the CB-CID to register a case to probe the genuiness of the Airavath Trust and investigate "whether the Trust collected any donations, if so, how much donations the Trust collected so far and who are the donors etc.""... We find that Airavath Trust has no role or authority to ask for any donation regarding recovery of idols and temple properties and it is only the State Government can take steps for recovery of idols and temple properties. The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Department of the Government of Tamil Nadu already taken steps in this regard and the investigation is going on. Further various proceedings are pending before the Honourable Supreme Court in respect of the Idol Wing cases and therefore, at this juncture, it is unwarranted for the Trust to look into the issues regarding restoration and recovery of idols and temple properties", the Court observed. .The matter will be taken up next in six weeks time to check on the compliance of the Court's directions. .[Read Judgment]