The NAJ, DUJ, KUJ and APWJF have further demanded a Media Commission of India in the lines of the First and Second Press Commissions, end to the Labour Codes and increasing attempts to gag the media.

Noting that “several journalists, including eminent editor Prabir Purkayastha, are in jail for exposing this government and the forces that control this government. Journalists such as Siddique Kappan are facing criminal charges, including UAPA charges, after spending years in prison. In Kashmir many journalists such as Fahad Shah, Sajad Gul, Irfan Mehraj, Aasif Sultan and Majid Hyderi have been arrested while most other journalists live in fear. Since 2010, as many as 15 journalists and two media managers have been charged under UAPA, seven are still behind bars. Sedition charges have been filed against leading journalists like Vinod Dua, Mrinal Pande, Rajdeep Sardesai and others.

Besides, defamation charges have been filed against journalists like Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Ravi Nair and many others. Raids on media, seizure of electronic devices and harassment of media employees is becoming another menace.”

The charter has stressed the fact that there has been no Wage Boards for the past 13 years, nor any willingness to constitute another one, or even grant interim relief.

The letter is timed with the current session of Parliament.

The detailed charter of demands, filed by all four unions representing 1,000 journalists relates to the Free Functioning of the Media and may be read below:

“The media has an effective role to play in a democratic society. Leaders of our national movement upheld this concept after Independence and the Constitution too values freedom of expression as a fundamental right. This concept was the base for passing the Working Journalists and other Newspaper Employees (Conditions of Service) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act (known as Working Journalists Act) and the Working Journalists (Fixation of rates of wages) Act in 1955 and 1958 by the Parliament of our country.

“The works of two Press Commissions were also broadly in this direction. The Parliament too has played a role in enriching this principle of ensuring a free press in the country and the rights and dignity of journalists and co-workers-all of which are being unfortunately negated lately.

“The term of the 17th Lok Sabha will end within a few months. This winter session will be the last full-fledged session of the 17th Lok Sabha. As the country is moving towards the next general elections in 2024, we, the media fraternity would like to make some submissions before the Parliamentarians and leaders of political parties.

“As trade unions of experienced journalists who cover and write about a myriad issues and problems in the country we have no qualms in saying that the last five years have been the most dangerous years for journalists and journalism in this country. The country’s ranking in the Freedom of Press Index has consistently declined during these years and stands as low as 161 out of 180 countries.

“Several journalists, including eminent editor Prabir Purkayastha, are in jail for exposing this government and the forces that control this government. Journalists such as Siddique Kappan are facing criminal charges, including UAPA charges, after spending years in prison. In Kashmir many journalists such as Fahad Shah, Sajad Gul, Irfan Mehraj, Aasif Sultan and Majid Hyderi have been arrested while most other journalists live in fear. Since 2010, as many as 15 journalists and two media managers have been charged under UAPA, seven are still behind bars. Sedition charges have been filed against leading journalists like Vinod Dua, Mrinal Pande, Rajdeep Sardesai and others. Defamation charges have been filed against journalists like Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Ravi Nair and many others. Raids on media, seizure of electronic devices and harassment of media employees is becoming another menace.

“Social media handles and YouTube channels of independent journalists are often forced to shut or censored for speaking or showing truth. Many of the independent YouTubers were leading anchors and editors who were forced out of TV news channels. Big corporate companies and other vested interests, have cemented their control over media, despite our warnings that cross- media ownership is dangerous for this country and its democracy. Journalists have been retrenched by managements under pressure from their corporate funders. Traditional family owned newspapers and media houses too are forced to bow before the pressure from the market or the governments.

“We deeply regret the weaponisation of sections of the media to spread hate. A rabid communal agenda has divided and polarized the people, threatening the unity and integrity of the Indian state. We hold the corporate media, particularly TV channels and their anchors and editors, culpable for these divisions and fissures in society as much as politicians.

“On the other hand, we note with dismay the increasing attempts to ‘regulate’ the media, particularly the relatively independent digital media and social media through amendments and changes to the laws. The IT Rules, 2021, the Registration of Press and Periodicals Bill, 2022 and the Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, 2023 are the most recent such moves that threaten democracy and free speech.

“The Union Government has also dealt journalism a big blow by submerging the two above mentioned Acts for journalists into the Labour Codes, reducing our rights. These Acts were the last resort for a journalist to fight the pressures from the management, the corporate advertisers or autocratic governments.

“It has been 13 years since the Centre accepted the recommendations of the Majithia Wage Board, which was the last Wage Board for journalists and press workers. The Centre has not shown any willingness to constitute another Wage Board and this is impacting the lives of many journalists and workers.

“As trade unions, we believe that collective struggles should be launched along with workers, peasants, youth and students to protect the democracy of our country. We urge you to help us in raising the voices of independent press in Parliament and other forums.

“We have certain concrete suggestions to cross over this crisis of democracy. Here is our fourteen point charter of demands, which we request you to consider.

1. A law to protect journalists from arbitrary arrests and malicious prosecution is the need of the hour. Journalists cannot be treated as terrorists.

2. A recent amendment to the IT Rules, 2021 gives not just the Press Information Bureau but also all Union government ministries and departments the powers to demand that news they object to be taken down by social media companies. We demand that these Rules aimed at censoring the small, independent digital media be withdrawn immediately.

Other moves such as the reported inclusion of digital media in the draft Registration of Press and Periodicals Bill, 2022, to controls news and views carried on digital media through any electronic device, must be reviewed. The draft Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, 2023 which is meant to replace the Cable Television Networks (Regulation Act), will affect not just streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video but also individuals putting news and current affairs online on platforms like YouTube and WhatsApp. These bills must be discussed in the public domain, through public hearings and consultations with all stakeholders including journalists’ organizations before being passed.

3. Early setting up of a common Media Council for print, electronic and digital media, with representatives from the media, media unions and independent public persons.
4. Setting up of a Media Commission to study the entire media like the First and Second Press Commissions and to recommend remedial measures, in view of sweeping changes since the onset of imperialist globalisation and the deplorable condition of journalists and non-journalists in media establishments.
5. Putting responsible checks on cross-media ownership.
6. Immediate steps to help the growth of national language news and feature agencies through a National Newspaper and Feature Agencies Development Corporation.
7. Repeal the four Labour Codes. Restore previous pro-labour legislations. Restore the two Working Journalists Acts with a simple amendment to include broadcast and digital media.
8. Implement the last Wage Board recommendations as per the historic Supreme Court ruling of February 7th, 2014. Set up fast track courts with time bound implementation in view of pendency of cases. Constitute a new Wage Board at the earliest. Interim relief is overdue.
9. Proper Risk Insurance cover for media workers and their equipment as well as a decent Pension Scheme. Currently, the contributory pension that journalists get is a pittance, seldom more than a couple of thousand rupees.
10. Ensure a one-year package to the premier national news agency United News of India to help sustain regular payment of long delayed salaries and payments to retrenched employees including their gratuity and other dues. Some of them are in critical condition. The once virtually self-reliant UNI Urdu news service is barely surviving, amidst celebrations of 200 years of the Urdu press. Attempts to discriminate against another premier national news agency, the PTI, must stop.
11. India’s record of imposing Internet bans is the worst in the world, with 741 shutdowns from 2012 to July 2023. Shutdowns seriously impede the work of journalists who are unable to send their news reports, stories and photographs at such times. Shutdowns have been imposed for everything from riots to stopping cheating in exams! This abuse of law must be stopped through appropriate rules and guidelines.
12. The laws relating to Sedition, Defamation and arbitrary detention laws like the UAPA are being increasingly misused to arrest and prosecute journalists. Journalists have been booked even for tweets and Facebook posts. These laws should be reviewed and repealed to prevent their misuse.
13. Given the increasing tendency of media companies to outsource work, provisions need to be made for freelance journalists, stringers and consultants, to ensure that payments by media companies are both timely and adequate. The number of such media workers is growing by the day but there are no proper legal provisions for their welfare and social security.
14. And lastly, but most importantly, release all the journalists, academics and activists arrested arbitrarily.

We sincerely hope that you will consider our demands and respond to them with the earnestness and immediacy they deserve. Today journalism, independent journalism in particular, is battered and bruised as never before. Surely immediate steps are needed to save it and ensure that the print, broadcast and digital media are allowed to co-exist and flower and bloom in a responsible manner.”

The statement has been signed by S.K.Pande, President-DUJ,  Sujata Madhok, General Secretary –DUJ  A.M. Jigeesh, President- NAJ,N.Kondaiah, Secretary General-NAJ, G.Anjaneyulu, General Secretary-APWJF and  R.Kiran Babu, General Secretary –   KUWJ

Related:

SKM: Farmers to protest against union government’s attempt to undermine farmers’ protest through Newsclick FIR 

Newsclick: Resounding voices of solidarity from all over in defence of press freedom

DUJ Protests freezing of media accounts

The post Stop treating journalists like terrorists, media unions tell government as the 17th Lok Sabha begins appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The post 50 HR groups appeal for unconditional release of Khurram Parvez, Irfan Meraj appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Why has the NIA arrested Kashmiri journalist Irfan Mehraj in a ‘terror funding’ case?
March 22, 2023

Delhi police cancels public meeting, still afraid of the “K” word!
March 17, 2023

New Tales in Kashmir’s New Order : The Forgotten Stories
February 28, 2023

When Story-tellers Are Criminalised : New Tales in Kashmir’s New Order
February 27, 2023

#JournalismIsNotACrime but can Kashmir’s Journalism Students Take the Risk?

February 28, 2022

CPJ, rights groups, and publications call for release of Fahad Shah and other Kashmiri journalists
February 25, 2022

Kashmirwalla editor Fahad Shah still in police custody
February 14, 2022

Fahad Shah and the saga of revolving door arrests
September 20, 2022

Journalist Qazi Shibli : “… it was like they were constantly snatching books and pens from me ”
April 27, 2020

One Year in the Abyss: Voices from Kashmir
August 4, 2020

Intimidation, curbs on movement and Internet severely restricted information flow in Kashmir
July 29, 2020

Still no full Internet restoration in Kashmir: SC order
May 19, 2020

As free journalism disappears from Kashmir, its stories remain buried
April 26, 2020

Kashmir police intimidate media: UAPA against photojournalist Masrat Zahra and fake news charge against Peerzada Ashiq
April 20, 2020

Majority of the government’s ‘whitelist’ sites for Kashmiris unusable!
January 28, 2020

Kashmir Internet ban to continue, Nodal officers to check usage on a daily basis
January 15, 2020 • ( Leave a comment )

Kashmir: Long road to press freedom
January 13, 2020

काटेरी तारेच्या पलीकडल्या बातम्या – काश्मीरमधील माहिती-बंदी
November 20, 2019

कंटीली तारों से घायल खबर : कश्मीर की सूचनाबंदी – 6 (अंतिम)
October 9, 2019

कंटीली तारों से घायल खबर : कश्मीर की सूचनाबंदी – 5
October 7, 2019

कंटीली तारों से घायल खबर : कश्मीर की सूचनाबंदी – 4
October 2, 2019

कंटीली तारों से घायल खबर : कश्मीर की सूचनाबंदी – 3
September 30, 2019

कंटीली तारों से घायल खबर : कश्मीर की सूचनाबंदी – 2
September 28, 2019

कंटीली तारों से घायल खबर : कश्मीर की सूचनाबंदी – 1
September 24, 2019

50th Day of Communication Blockade in Kashmir!
September 23, 2019

Demand to lift communication and press curbs in Jammu and Kashmir
September 13, 2019

Video: News Behind the Barbed Wire – Voices From Behind Kashmir’s Information Blockade
September 9, 2019

NEWS BEHIND THE BARBED WIRE : Kashmir’s Information Blockade
September 4, 2019

Press Council of India must intervene to rescind the ban on communication in Kashmir, say journalists
August 24, 2019

Restore Internet in Kashmir and #KeepItOn
August 20, 2019

Information Blackout in Kashmir: Kashmir Times editor Anuradha Bhasin PIL on media curbs
August 11, 2019

End the Lockdown in Jammu and Kashmir, restore communication forthwith, demands Free Speech Collective
August 8, 2019

Courtesy: freespeechcollective.in

The post Media freedom in Kashmir after Art.370 abrogation appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In the ongoing budget session of the Parliament, Lok Sabha member Shri Pradyut Bordoloi (INC) brought the issue of journalists being arrest under the charges of Unlawful Activities Prevention Amendment (UAPA) Act. Bordoloi had asked the ministry of Information And Broadcasting to provide the Lok Sabha with the details and the number of journalists arrested under UAPA, Indian Penal Code (IPC) and other penal laws during the last five years and the current year. The member had also enquired about the details and the number of Information Technology surveys and raids carried out at News organisations by the Government during the last five years and the current year.

Responding to these queries, Shri Anurag Singh Thakur, the Minister of Information and Broadcasting and Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, informed the Lok Sabha that the above-mentioned matters are state are state subjects, as ‘Police’ and ‘Public Order’ fall under the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India. Thus, the State Governments are responsible for prevention, detection and investigation of crimes and for prosecuting the criminals through their law enforcement agencies. Additionally, it also informed that even the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) does not maintain data separately for Journalists and media personnel.

The question can be read here:

In a country where authorities are increasingly targeting journalists and online critics for their critiques of government policies and practices, including by bringing charges against them under counterterrorism and other penal laws, this response reflects the authorities’ indifference to ensuring the safety of journalists in India.

The Indian authorities and state agencies have repeatedly violated the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by the Indian Constitution. An increasing number of journalists are detained on trumped-up or politically motivated charges for critical reporting, and they are then imprisoned for years, with the goal of targeting journalists, spreading fear, and silencing independent media.

The targeting of journalists by the authorities, combined with a more extensive restriction on dissent, has enabled the Hindu nationalists to intimidate, persecute, and abuse journalists critical of the Indian government, both online and offline, with impunity.

Against the backdrop of increasing restrictions on media freedom, Indian authorities have arrested journalists on bogus terrorism and seditious charges, and have consistently aimed at critics and independent news organisations, even raiding their offices. Even though it has only been three months since the beginning of this year, there have already been numerous reports of journalists being arrested and charged with UAPA, as well as raids on media outlets. In the month of March itself, 2 such cases have been reported, which are as follows:

• On March 20, 2023, Kashmiri journalist Irfan Mehraj was arrested by the National Investigation Agency from Srinagar in a case registered under the UAPA. In a 2020 case of terror funding allegedly through NGOs, Mehraj was the first accused arrested following an alleged comprehensive investigation. In a statement, the central agency said that Mehraj is a close associate of human rights activist Khurram Parvez, who was arrested in November 2021 under sections of the UAPA which deal with terror funding. On March 22, a Delhi Court had now remanded Mehraj to NIA custody for 10 days in a case registered under UAPA.

Mehraj and Parvez are both associated with the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society, a coalition of non-profit campaign and advocacy organisation based in Srinagar. Mehraj founded Wande Magazine and now works as a senior editor at TwoCircles.net. He has tirelessly contributed to leading news publications such as The Indian Express, Al Jazeera, Himal Southasian, DW, and TRT World, and has worked tirelessly to ensure that the truth about the atrocities in Kashmir reaches the world.

It is also worth noting that Parvez, who was arrested by the NIA in November 2021 under the draconian UAPA on charges of criminal conspiracy, waging war against the government, and terror funding, is still detained.

• On March 13, Sanjay Rana, a YouTube reporter, was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police for asking a question to an elected state functionary. On March 12, Rana had questioning the state minister for secondary education Gulab Devi at a function about unfulfilled promises. He asked “questions to a minister over her unfulfilled promises of development work during a function”. Devi had visited Budh Nagar Khandwa to inaugurate a dam. Rana was eventually granted bail but not before remaining in police custody for over 30 hours. The Union noted that not even a day had passed since the event when the Sambhal police arrested Rana based on a complaint by a leader associated with the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the BJP’s youth wing. An FIR under IPC Sections 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation), was filed against Rana.

In February, the income tax department had raided the Mumbai and Delhi office of the BBC News. The raids, which the income tax officials have described as “surveys,” follows the recent controversy over the BBC’s showing of a two-part investigative documentary, titled India: The Modi Question, which for the first time revealed a confidential investigation by the British government into the 2002 Gujarat riots that left more than a thousand Muslims dead. On February 26, a journalist employed with a TV channel was shot at by two unidentified bike-borne gunmen in Jaunpur district of Uttar Pradesh. In his FIR, journalist Devendra Khare had alleged that he was allegedly being pressuring against reporting a recent attack on Akhil Bhartiya Brahman Mahasabha national president Rajendra Tripathi and his family. On February 6, hours after a Ratnagiri-based local daily carried a front-page story about a land agent with alleged criminal antecedents, the story’s reporter was mowed down by a car allegedly driven by the subject of the story. Furthermore, Indian authorities have also been implicated in using the Israeli-produced spyware Pegasus to target journalists. 

These are just a few examples of incidents that have occurred this year. It is worth noting that many journalists who have had cases filed against them in recent years are either still in jail or are out on bail, fighting against the current tyranny. Given the polarised environment, India has been labeled as dangerous for journalists. Freedom of expression protection in India has never been strong, and it is now dwindling even further.

Related:

Remove distasteful tickers targeting Teesta Setalvad: NBDSA directs Times Now

TV Journalist Shot Twice in UP’s Jaunpur District

Attack on journalists in Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha condemned: DUJ

Journalist detained for interrogation for report on right wing groups

Journalist Shashikant Warishe murdered for uncovering anomalies in the Barsu Refinery project

Journalist Siddique Kappan’s release after 28 months in a UP jail, where a black hole with opaque procedures affected release

Increased Attacks on Media in Modified India

The post No NCRB data on journalist, media personnel arrested under UAPA and other penal laws: IBM appeared first on SabrangIndia.