PRESS COUNCIL OF INDIAS
REPORT ON FAVOURS TO JOURNALISTS
The
Press Council of India has held that Government accommodation, concessional
land, free air tickets and company shares being given to journalists, news
agencies and newspaper establishments and owners would amount to `undue
favours`.
The
Council, which undertook a comprehensive study on the subject between 1985 and
1995, held that free and concessional bus, rail and other transport facilities
given to journalists also fell in the category of favours. It observed that the
facility of free air travel provided by companies, corporations and airlines
was an inducement to write favourably about their products and services.
The
Council noted that proprietors of newspapers, instead of journalists and
editors, were accompanying the President, Vice-President, Prime Minister and
the External Affairs Ministry officials, on their foreign trips. It
recommended that the newspapers should take care to nominate eligible persons
for the purpose.
The
Commission also observed that indiscriminate disbursement of money from the
discretionary funds of the Chief Ministers encouraged unfaithfulness to the
mission of journalism and promoted corrupt practices. The following are the
recommendations:
RECOMMENDATIONS
The
Committee (of the Council on undue favours to journalists) came to the
conclusion that the following facilities so far being extended by the
government and the authorities, companies and corporations would amount to
favours subject to the observations made here under.
1.
ACCOMMODATION: GOVERNMENT HOUSING/FLATS/LAND
The
Committee is of the view that it is the responsibility of the newspaper
establishments to provide accommodation to its employees. The Committee noted
that the Punjab and Haryana High Court in its judgement has held that
journalists are not entitled to government accommodation as they are not
employees of the government. The Court has said that
there were no rules, regulations or guidelines governing such allotment with
the Chandigarh administration. The Court observed that the existing rules were
only meant for government servants and there was no question of bringing the
journalists in its ambit.
The Committee further noted that the Central Government in its action taken
report on the suggestions of the Second Press Commission to the effect that: no
further housing facility should be provided to the journalists and the existing
allotments of the government accommodation in the National Capital and the
States should be charged for at non-subsidised rates and phased out as the
present occupants leave-- had recorded that no further housing facility would
be provided to journalists and in respect of the existing allotments, rent
would be charged at non-subsidised rates. This decision was taken nearly a
decade ago.
However, the allotments continued.
The Committee also noted that the Governments were giving prime land to the newspaper owners at nominal price. Some of the newspaper establishments had either rented out the entire premises after retaining a small portion for their own use or had converted the premises into a