High Court Directs Formation Of Press Council Of Tamil Nadu To Curb The Menace Of Fake Journalists

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The Madras High Court has issued guidelines to prevent the menace of fake journalists and the deteriorating quality of news in the state.
• The Court observed that nowadays, media has become a veil used by various groups to secure a license to carry on their personal agendas.
• The State Government has been directed to form a Press Council of Tamil Nadu to regulate the entry and conduct of journalists and media houses in the state.

INTRODUCTION

The Madras High Court, in its recent judgment, passed guidelines to the State Government to form a Press Council of Tamil Nadu to safeguard media and journalism from the influence of money, power, etc., and to ensure that the authenticity of both the news and the news reporters is maintained. The Court considered it expedient that, to maintain the sanctity of the institution of media and preserve the faith of the people in the institution, the institution has to be cleansed of all its defects, among which, the primary target had to be the presence of fake journalists, who undertook their criminal activities in the veil of journalism. This article shall be an attempt to study the guidelines and whether or not they would be able to serve their intended purpose.

BACKGROUND OF THE JUDGMENT

The guidelines came in a case wherein the petitioner had filed two separate PILs in relation to a case of idol theft. The petitioner, S. Sekaran, claimed to be a journalist and in his first petition, he contended that the investigation into the idol theft was not done properly and that the investigation officer, former Inspector General of Police, A G Pon Manickavel, conducted his investigation in a biased manner to hide the true culprits. In that petition, the petitioner prayed that the Court issue directions to the Home Secretary and the DGP, Crime Branch -Criminal Investigation Department, to consider his September 26, 2019 representations and form a team to investigate the report filed by the Officer-in-charge, conveying unauthentic investigation data in the idol theft case.

In his second petition, the petitioner sought directions to the State to form a committee to investigate a trust, which he believed could be involved in the idol theft case. According to the petitioner, the trust collected donations from the public on the pretext of finding the lost idols and reinstate the already dissolved Special Division Bench of the High Court, which was specifically entrusted with the job of relocating the lost idols. Therefore, according to the petitioner, the trust and the money sought by it in the form of donations should be investigated and any wrongdoings by the trust should be investigated.

During the proceedings, the fourth respondent, A G Pon Manickavel, raised a contention that one of the other officers involved in the investigation, Kader Basha, was involved in the theft of the idols and that he undertook a theft of the original idols and replaced them with their fake copies. It was further contended by the respondent that the petitioner was a fake journalist and was working on the instructions of Basha to malign the respondent. Upon an inquiry into the credentials of the petitioner as a journalist, he presented six identity cards, one of which belonged to Basha. This was sufficient to confirm the suspicion that the petitioner was indeed a ‘mouthpiece’ of Basha, and had filed the petitions to divert the course of the investigation and bring the name of the fourth respondent to disrepute.

With this revelation, the Court was also convinced as to the falsification created by the petitioner and him masquerading as a journalist. However, the contentions raised by the petitioner had some merit that demanded the passing of orders in that regard. Therefore, while disposing off the first petition, the Court directed the fourth respondent to hand over all the documents pertaining to the case in his possession to the current investigation officer of the idol theft case to ensure a thorough investigation into the matter. While disposing off the second petition, the Court directed the authorities of the CB-CID to investigate into the objectives of the trust involved in the theft, and also investigate the trail of money collected by the trust as donations.

GUIDELINES ISSUED BY THE COURT

While hearing the petitions, the Court got to know that the petitioner was pretending to be a journalist and that he was not so in reality. This made the Bench make some observations about the current trend of fake journalists who use the tag of being a journalist and go on with their unscrupulous activities. It was observed that the indiscriminate use of the sticker of PRESS on vehicles by anyone even remotely involved in the activity has led to a massive influx of people of criminal background who used the profession and tag of journalism as a front for their illegal activities. Further, the use of money in the field of journalism, particularly in the form of paid news, excessive advertisements of one entity at the cost of the opportunity available to the others, etc., has deteriorated the quality of the news and had also led to a massive loss of trust of the people in the institution. Such furthering of individual agendas by the media houses had convoluted their original duty and made them a machine of interest articulation. To that end, the Court found it pertinent to issue certain guidelines which would be instrumental in eliminating the problem of fake journalists and cleansing the institution of all its defects. The guidelines issued by the Court are as under:

a) The State Government was directed to constitute a Press Council for the State of Tamil Nadu within a period of three months from the date of the order. The Council would be presided over by a retired judge of the Supreme Court or a High Court and would include various government officers like senior IAS officers, IPS officers, members of the journalism fraternity, etc.

b) The members of the Council (government servants, journalists, etc.) should be in active service and on a regular payroll, and the loss of job due to any reason shall automatically render the members ineligible to continue in the office any longer.

c) The Council so formed shall be the sole authority to recognize and register any other press clubs and associations or unions of journalists in the state of Tamil Nadu. The Council shall also be empowered to conduct the elections to various posts in the registered clubs, associations, etc. Further, if any registered body failed to conduct elections within the time stipulated by the Council, it would be brought to its notice, and appropriate action would be taken.

d) The Council would undertake collaborations with prominent national and international media bodies to facilitate training of the upcoming journalists and be privy to various important updates taking place across the globe. The Council could undertake the assistance of the State Government if required.

e) The Council was also empowered to decide the number of journalists operating in each town.

f) The State Government would be prohibited from providing any special privileges like houses or free traveling passes to any journalist without the approval of the Council and any such application would be sent to the Council for its verification.

g) The Council would be empowered to identify a fake journalist and lodge a complaint against him/her. Further, if any citizen would be aggrieved by the actions of the fake journalist, they could report the matter to the Council, which shall take appropriate action.

h) The State Government and the Press Council were prohibited from issuing ID cards to journalists unless the organization they represent gives evidence of the requirements laid out by the Council (salary, TDS deduction, minimum viewership, minimum circulation, etc.)

The thrust of these guidelines was towards establishing a formal structure to facilitate strict regulation and vigilance of journalistic activities in the state and to remove the bad elements present in the field.

RELEVANCE OF THE GUIDELINES

While the Court has taken a monumental step in the public interest to establish a body to defenestrate the unprincipled members of the field, it remains to be seen that whether these guidelines would actually prove to be effective in practice. This statement arises from the fact that the country already has a Press Council, along with various other organisations like NBA, etc., which aim at ensuring the freedom of the press and of maintaining and improving the standards of newspapers and news agencies in India. But in practical application, the Press Council of India has suffered some colossal failures in the sense that it has not been able to achieve its objects by any measure. The problem of fake news, fake journalists, agenda-specific reporting of facts has crept into the national media and the result is that the media has now been divided into two camps: those in favour of the ruling establishment and those against it. This inherent bias has taken away the quality and accuracy of the news and has given rise to a new kind of competition wherein the media houses are more interested in pulling each other down, and refrain from reporting the true facts, especially if it is in contravention to their agenda.

Media as an institution should be free of any ideology, but nowadays, even the media houses follow a particular ideology which is evident in the nature of their reporting and presentation of the facts. While the statutory institutions have failed in ensuring the “freedom” of the institutions, it has also failed at developing a punitive mechanism wherein the media houses which violate the set standards of news reporting and presentation and the people who facilitate it could be punished.

Further, the institution of mass media has now become a commercial market wherein they focus more on their profits rather than providing news updates. It is a common sight that the front page of the newspapers and the prime-time TV commercial slots contain more advertisements rather than news updates. Even the online channels of these mass media institutions contain more advertisements rather than news updates. The Press Council of India often seems toothless to curb such menace.

It is due to the abovementioned reasons that an apprehension arises that whether the guidelines issued by the High Court would actually be beneficial in their practical implementation. The State Government has been given a time of four weeks to comply with the requirements, so it remains to be seen what shall be the fate of these guidelines.

CONCLUSION

After going through the above text, it can be concluded that the menace of fake journalists and the eventual fake journalism is a reality that has assumed such alarming proportions that the courts have to issue guidelines in the matter. It remains to be seen that whether such guidelines and the organizations formed as a consequence would be able to achieve their objectives or not. Till then, optimism and individual fact-checking is the key to remain safe from the menace of fake news and prevent the spread of misinformation.