Fake news order is not govt's first attempt to gag media

New Delhi: The Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry’s “Fake News” directive isn’t the first attempt by the saffron leadership to gag the media. Last year Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje had brought in an ordinance to gag the media but was forced to withdraw after following a major uproar.

The Raje government ordinance or executive order barring courts from taking up complaints against public servants without the government’s approval. The law also makes it a crime to identify the minister, lawmaker or official against whom a complaint has been filed in the court. The proposed law also gave “untrammelled power to even imprison journalists” and came under severe attack from several media bodies.

The Rajasthan government was forced to withdrawn it  after several of the journalist bodies stated that “endangers freedom of the press”.

The remedy being used by the Raje government is draconian and gives it untrammelled power to even imprison journalists for reporting matters of public interest, they had stated.

“The ordinance promulgated by the State Government last month was ostensibly done to protect the judiciary and the bureaucracy against false FIRs. But in reality it is a pernicious instrument to harass the media, hide wrongful acts by government servants and drastically curb the freedom of the press guaranteed by the Constitution of India,” the statement by Editors Guild of India had said.  

It has also been noted that Union ministers have repeatedly targeted the media. With  MoS external affairs Gen V K Singh had described the media as “presstitutes.”

The comment of the former Army Chief came after his visit to the Pakistani high commission stoked a controversy. Gen VK Singh had seemingly taken offence to the outrage in the media, labelling the media ‘presstitutes’ in a tweet.