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| PCI reprimands ‘State Times’ for cooked up story | | Suspension of DAVP advertisements, other actions recommended | | Early Times Reporter
Jammu | Feb 13
The Press Council of India, the highest media watchdog in the country, while seriously reprimanding a Jammu based English daily and recommended for suspension of the government advertisements to the said newspaper for a specified period.
In a complaint filed by Senior Superintendent of Police, Jammu, the Press Council of India inducted the newspaper STATE TIMES and its editor for abjuring its responsibility and even duty towards the country's security and independence by publishing a false and fabricated news item.
An inquiry committee of the Press Council of India held the newspaper for gross abdication of responsibility and observed that the STATE TIMES deserved strongest censure of the council and stoppage of government advertisements to the paper for a specified period.
It also recommended that the adjudication may be sent to the state government for specific release of media. The adjudication may also be forwarded to the DAVP with reference to clause 18 of the central advertisement policy and to the RNI, Directorate of information and publication relations department, government of Jammu and Kashmir and district magistrate, Jammu, for such action as they deem fit in the matter.
According to the case history, the Senior Superintendent of Police, Jammu has filed a complaint before the Press Council of India on January 15, 2005 against State Time, Jammu for publication of allegedly false and baseless news tem captioned "Two Kashmiri Girls, boy arrested from Diamond Hotel" in its issue dated 18th December 2004.
It was reported in the news item that two Kashmiri girls and a boy suspected of having close links with LeT outfit were arrested from Hotel Diamond in a raid conducted by the sleuths of special operation group (SoG). Sources informed that the accused had checked in the hotel stating that they had come from Srinagar and would be leaving for Chandigarh in the morning. Police teams barged into the hotel after specific inputs and arrested the trio. Police recovered rupees Ten thousand from the possession of the boy working reportedly in a departmental store in Srinagar.
The complaint (SSP Jammu) submitted that the news item is totally false and baseless. The complaint has submitted that he issued a letter dated 13.12.2004 to the respondent editor, STATE TIMES to rebut the news item and to clarify the news to the general public but received no response.
Show-cause notice was issued to the respondent editor, STATE TIMES but the respondent has not filed his written statement in the matter.
The matter was taken up for hearing by the inquiry committee at New Delhi on May 5, 2006. One Mr Narender Singh, Marketing Manager, appeared for the respondent newspaper while there was no appearance on behalf of the complaint.
The representative of the respondent newspaper filed a letter from the editor stating that on receipt of notice of hearing, they had approached the SSP, Jammu, who had denied having lodged any complaint with the council. In his oral submissions, he submitted that of LeT associated Kashmiri boys and girls.
“The absence of written statement showed that paper had no defence to offer”, said order of the PCI which further added, “If the newspaper had received any such report from any quarter, it was incumbent on it to have properly verified the same from authentic sources and only then to have proceeded with the publication, particularly in view of the impact the news could have had in a state widely infested by militant and anti-national groups”. By failing to do so, the PCI said, “the STATE TIMES abjured its responsibility and even duty towards the country's security and independence. Therefore, the committee held that this gross abdication of responsibility deserved strongest censure of the council and stoppage of government advertisements to the paper for a specified period. It recommended that the adjudication may be sent to the state government for specific release of media. The adjudication may also be forwarded to the DAVP with reference to clause 18 of the central advertisement policy and to the RNI, Directorate of information and publication relations department, government of Jammu and Kashmir and district magistrate, Jammu, for such action as they deem fit in the matter”.
The press council, on consideration of the records of the case and report of the inquiry committee accepts the reasons, findings and the recommendations of the committee and decides accordingly. |
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