Editors Guild writes to Rahul Gandhi asking him to advocate for press freedom
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New Delhi: The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha (LoP), Rahul Gandhi, was encouraged by the Editors Guild of India (EGI) on Saturday to bring up press freedom and the right to information in the Parliament.
The EGI outlined in a letter how the press's fundamental freedom has fallen under “increasing threat due to several legislative measures passed by the government”. It added that these measures were “taken without adequate stakeholder consultation and parliamentary scrutiny in the drafting and passing of these laws”.
“They carry provisions that are vague and overboard, which could be misused to restrict legitimate journalistic activities,” the EGI further said, Indian Express reported.
The EGI shared the letter on social media platform X, and added that it has written to leaders of opposition parties, expressing concerns on “legislative measures taken to control media- print, broadcast, and digital’ and calling for renewed debate and consultations.”
The Digital Personal Data Protection Act (2023), the Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill (2023), the Press and Registration of Periodicals Act (2023), and the IT Rules 2021 with subsequent modifications in 2023 are just a few of the legislative initiatives that the letter highlighted concerns about.
In the letter, the EGI requested that significant issues impacting press freedom be discussed in parliament and that stakeholders be consulted, as well as that press freedom be protected in any future legislative measures. Gandhi was further asked to bring up these concerns in Parliament and guarantee the freedom of the press and the right to information by supporting amendments.