GUWAHATI, Nov 15 � On the eve of the National Press Day on November 16, the Journalists� Forum Assam (JFA), raised voice for a powerful media council in India comprising both the print (newspaper) and electronic media.
The scribes� body suggested that the empowered media council, in the line of Press Council of India (PCI), which emerged on November 16, 1966, should work as a moral watchdog to ensure the quality of journalism in the country as well as press/media freedom.
The National Press Day symbolises a free and responsible press in India. On this day, the Indian Press Council started functioning as a moral watchdog to ensure that not only did the press maintain the high standards expected from this powerful medium, but also that it was not fettered by the influence or threats of any extraneous factors.
�India today supports over 800 satellite channels, half of those are news based, with thousands of FM and alternate media outlets. As the PCI has no authority over the electronic media, we would like to urge the Union Government for empowering the council and renaming it as Media Council of India,� stated a statement signed by JFA president Rupam Barua and secretary Nava Thakuria.
Mentioning that the Union Government has already reconstituted the PCI for the next three-year term though the name of the chairman is yet to be declared, the JFA argued that if the PCI has to function under the present structure till the completion of the term, the country must ponder over establishing a separate council for the electronic media at the earliest.
