The I&B ministry withdrew the ‘fake news’ directive. The measures, contained in a press release, “Guidelines for accreditation of journalists amended to regulate fake news”, caused widespread outrage among media organizations and were withdrawn after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention.
The press release said that any complaint on fake news would be referred to the Press Council of India for print media and the News Broadcasters Association for electronic media. If confirmed as fake, the accreditation of the journalist shall be suspended for a period of six months for a first offence, a year if it’s the second offence and permanently after the third.
Bodies like the Editors’ Guild of India and the Broadcast Editors Association condemned the order, with the former calling it draconian and arbitrary.
