For the first time, the newly framed Press Information Bureau (PIC) guidelines says that journalists may lose their accreditation facility on the grounds of national security and India’s relations with other countries. Moreover, again for the first time the PIB offered to issue accreditation to web journalists also.
The new accreditation policy makes journalists to lose their accreditation, if he/she is prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement of an offence”
The new rules, laid down by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, stand in stark contrast to the last 2013 policy which stated that the accreditation “shall be withdrawn as soon as the conditions on which it was given cease to exist. It also made it clear that accreditation is also liable to be withdrawn/suspended if it is found to have been misused.
The PIB through this policy allows ows journalists working with online platforms to be eligible for accreditation with the PIB, for which it lays down ten grounds on which the same can be suspended. These grounds include serious cognisable offence, non-journalistic activities, furnishing false information, if their organisation shuts down, or even if the journalist leaves the organisation.
Accreditation allows journalists to “access government offices in Delhi”, and is needed to attend events where the President, PM are in attendance. However, the new policy prohibits any one from mentioning on social media or letterheads that they are accredited to the Government of India.
A freelancer with over 15 years of experience, a veteran journalist with over 30 years of experience, and journalists with a “publicly acclaimed distinguished career” are eligible for accreditation. For TV channels, newspapers, magazines, news agencies, etc, the size of the platform determines who can get accredited.
If you’re a website with 10-50 lakh unique visitors per month, one journalist from your organisation can get accredited. If your website has over 1 crore unique visitors per month, four journalists from your organisation can get accredited.
The conditions for online platforms also state that your platform should be at least a year old and your website “average monthly unique visitor count of last six months should be duly certified by the website’s CAG-approved/ empanelled auditors.
