New Delhi: The Editors Guild of India has condemned the scathing remarks of the new chairman of Press Council of India, Justice Markandey Katju, on the media.
The Guild has also strongly opposed powers sought by Justice Katju to impose fines, withdraw ads and to suspend the licence to publish or broadcast.
It noted that the council was led by someone who seemed like he wanted to invoke "fear" in the media.
The Guild also said that the Press Council's powers should be limited to the print media.
Alleging that Katju had been making negative statements ever since he assumed office, the Guild said his comments in an interview last week "touched a new low".
"The Editors Guild of India deplores the ill-considered, sweeping and uninformed comments on the media and media professionals by the new chairman of the Press Council of India Justice Markandey Katju," the Editors Guild said in a statement.
In a recent interview, Katju had said he held a "poor opinion" of media personnel in general accusing them of often working in an "anti-people" manner and advocating more teeth to the council to regulate them.
He had also said that he had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for inclusion of TV channels under the Press Council and renaming it as the Media Council.
"Press freedom is a bulwark for the Indian people against the onslaught of people in authority, and the Guild will firmly oppose the assumption of any draconian powers by a Press Council that was created with an altogether different purpose," the Guild said.
Further, as the very name of the Council suggests, only the print media comes within the Council's ambit, it said.
"The issues and drivers of the electronic media are such that they call for separate regulation. Therefore the Guild firmly believes that the Press Council should have its brief limited to the print media, as it is at the present," the Guild said.
(With Additional Inputs from PTI)
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