Complaints to Press Council surge

New Delhi: The number of complaints that come before the Press Council is constantly rising as the forum is more convenient than the costly and time consuming proceedings in courts, a latest Press Council report states. According to it, during the first 10 years of the council between 1966 to 1974, it was approached by about 600 complainants. [caption id=“attachment_171536” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Loaded with complaints. Image courtesy PIB”]  [/caption] The report stated that the number of complaints surged after the first decade and between April 1979 to October 2011, a total of 21,651 complaints were filed. “The reason for steady increase in the number of complaints being lodged with it (Council) is because the Council’s forum is being preferred over courts where the proceedings, by their very nature, are costly and time consuming,” the report said. It stated that in the complaints being lodged against the press for violation of norms of journalistic conduct, about 60 percent carry charge of defamation. About 25 percent relate to matters of principle like right to reply, plagiarism, fratricidal tiffs, unauthorised lifting of news from other papers etc., the report added. In the remaining 15 percent cases, the complainants may be aggrieved over reports that hurt religious, communal, casteist sentiments, said the report titled Media as an Instrument of Public Accountability, that was prepared by the Council at the occasion of the National Press Day. PTI