The Chairman of the Press Council of India, Markandey Katju (PCI) has set up a three-member committee to probe alleged prevention of reporters of Sakshi daily and Namaste Telangana from attending the official press conference of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
In a release, Mr. Katju said the Committee would comprise senior journalists Rajeev Ranjan as convenor and K. Amarnath and Prajnananda Chaudhury as Members. The committee would soon visit Hyderabad to enquire into the matter and recommend to the chairman the steps required to remove prohibitions/hardships/hindrances in coverage of information and its dissemination.
In an order on Friday, Mr. Katju said the Indian Journalists Union and National Union of Journalists had complained that accredited reporters of the said Telugu dailies were being prevented from doing their duty, covering the Chief Minister’s press conferences. He said that prima facie, the alleged restrictions affected the freedom of media, of access and dissemination of news.
ADVERTISEMENT
The PCI Chairman directed authorities of the AP government to extend all cooperation and support to the Committee and ensure that no one interfered with its functioning in any way.