Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir administration Tuesday approved a new media policy — ‘Media Policy-2020’ — that it said would help create a “sustained narrative on the functioning of the government in media” and promote the highest standard of journalism in the union territory.
The administration said the policy, among other things, will also thwart misinformation, fake news and raise alarm against any attempt to use the media to vitiate public peace, sovereignty and integrity of the country.
The policy comes in the backdrop of J&K Police filing FIRs against two journalists and summoning several others for their reporting and social media posts. These two journalists have been booked under the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in April.
Last month, the editor of a local news portal, The Kashmir Walla, was summoned and questioned for reporting about alleged police misconduct during a gunbattle in Srinagar.
Also read: J&K police defends FIRs against journalists, says media should ascertain facts first
Policy highlights
The J&K administration, in a statement, said the new policy includes establishment of a media academy/institute/chair in reputed national institutes in J&K such as IIMC, IIM that will promote the highest standard of journalism, and coordinate study and research in the field of journalism.
“The key highlight of the policy is that it lays down a solid foundation to use all forms of media to build public trust, pay attention to grievances of people projected by the media and strengthen the relationship between the various stakeholders,” according to the statement issued by the Department of Information and Public Relations (DIPR).
The administration said the policy will aid the government to carry the message of “welfare, development and progress to the people in an effective manner”.
“It (policy) addresses the ambiguities in the earlier advertisement policy and ensures that different kinds of media are given due consideration to keep pace with the changing demands of present times.”
Addressing the issue of overall growth and development of media through capacity-building and creating a citizen-centric eco-system in J&K, the new media policy includes institution of media awards to be given each year to two outstanding media or communication professionals, the statement said.
“… the policy attempts to thwart misinformation, fake news and tries to develop a mechanism that will raise alarm against any attempt to use the media to vitiate public peace, sovereignty and integrity of the country,” the DIPR statement read.
Policy will be basis for SOP
According to J&K officials, the policy will be the basis for creating the Standard Operating Procedure to reach out to people in situations of crises like health issues and natural disasters.
The policy comes weeks after the J&K government terminated the services of 45 contractual employees, most of them from Kashmir, who worked as reporters, camera persons and translators in the DIPR for the last five years.
This happened despite an advisory from the Ministry of Labour and Employment against termination of employees during Covid lockdown.
Following the termination of the employees last month, the DIPR had issued a circular stating how the department was suffering from manpower crunch under the present scenario.
“Under prevailing circumstances, the workload of the department has been increased manifold and the department has to rely on meagre manpower available at divisional and district level offices,” the DIPR circular had said.
Also read: I’m speechless, says J&K journalist Masrat Zahra after being booked for ‘anti-national’ posts
This is going way too far. Why are journalists throughout the country not making this an issue? It is appalling that a government ministry can give itself such powers to regulate the press. We should be out on the streets protesting this outrage. If the government doesn’t want dissenting views then it should not embark on its repressive and divisive agenda. If government behaves itself then so will the press.
AZAAN JAVAID and other journos in ThePrint are crooks whose pay cheques comes only when they post anti Hindu, anti-Modi and anti-India propaganda in ThePrint.
My idea of heaven on earth : Shut down the I & B ministry. Also Prasar Bharati, AIR, Doordarshan. No “ Media policy “, nor bringing out magazines in thirteen languages, extolling the work the government is doing. 2. Many years ago, Narayan Rane, one of Maharashtra’s richest politicians, brought out a limp rag of a newspaper. A complimentary copy would be delivered to our home. The maids would pick it up and place it along the stack of “ Raddi “, which contained old copies of newspapers that our family had paid for and read.