The chairman of the Press Council of India, Justice Markandey Katju, on Monday took up a practice that has become quite common with the central and state governments - of stopping advertisements to newspapers and magazines that have published news articles that were critical of them. Describing the practice as "undemocratic" and betraying a "pettiness of mind'', Katju threatened to take legal action if such cases came to the notice of the Council.
He urged governments, statutory bodies and public sector undertakings to stop or reduce advertisements only after giving an opportunity to the newspaper or journal to be heard. "Stopping advertisements or drastically reducing them merely because a critical article has been published, is totally is totally unacceptable in a democracy," he said, adding that this was an infringement on freedom of speech.
In a statement, the PCI chief said that newspapers and journals must be a given a hearing by issuing them show cause notice if the concerned authorities are considering a curtailment of advertisements to them. Katju said he has received several complaints from newspapers and journals about government advertisements being suddenly stopped or drastically reduced without assign any reason.
"Sometimes this is done because of the newspapers/ journals publishing material critical of a government or critical of some of its ministers/officials," Katju said. He added that since advertisements were the main form of revenue for newspapers, any such action violated press freedom.
"The Press Council of India will not tolerate any further this kind of behaviour on the part of any government, its ministers or officials, and shall take suitable legal action in the matter," he said.
He said that people, including the press, have a right to criticize the government under the Constitution. Governments, ministers and officials must develop tolerance and must have the strength to stand up to criticism, he said.
In his statement, Katju added that once it has been decided to give advertisements to a newspaper or journal, stopping or reducing it without giving the publication an opportunity of a hearing, amounted to violation of the principle of legitimate expectation and natural justice.