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 commercial complex thereby earning huge profits. In some of the cases, it was found that the newspapers with a view to get another allotment at some other place after renting out the entire building, were not even reporting on attacks on their own scribes for the simple reason that they