Journalists propagating fake news will be blacklisted, says Smriti Irani's ministry: Full text of guidelines

In an unprecedented move, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting came out with stringent measures on Monday to deal with fake news. It said that the accreditation of a journalist could be permanently cancelled if the scribe is found generating or propagating fake news. As per the amended guidelines for the accreditation of journalists, if the publication or telecast of fake news is confirmed, the accreditation of that journalist would be suspended for a period of six months in the first violation and for one year in case of a second violation. In case of a third violation, the journalist’s accreditation would be cancelled permanently. The Centre said that it would be obligatory for all journalists to abide by these guidelines. Here is the full text of the press release: Noticing the increasing instances of fake news in various mediums including print and electronic media, the Government has amended the Guidelines for Accreditation of Journalists. Now on receiving any complaints of such instances of fake news, the same would get referred to the Press Council of India (PCI) if it pertains to print media & to News Broadcasters Association (NBA) if it relates to electronic media, for determination of the news item being fake or not. [caption id=“attachment_4189309” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AP[/caption] Determination is expected to be completed within 15 days by these regulating agencies. Once the complaint is registered for determination of fake news, the correspondent/journalist whoever created and/or propagated the fake news will, if accredited, have the accreditation suspended till such time the determination regarding the fake news is made by the regulating agencies mentioned above. The Accreditation Committee of the PIB which consists of representative of both PCI and NBA shall be invariably be reached out to for validating any accreditation request of any news media agency. While any confirmation of publication or telecast of fake news having been confirmed by any of these agencies, the accreditation shall be suspended for a period of 6 months in the first violation and for one year in the case of 2 nd violation and in the event of 3rd violation it would be cancelled permanently. While examining the requests seeking accreditation, the regulatory agencies will examine whether the ‘Norms of Journalistic Conduct’ and ‘Code of Ethics and Broadcasting Standards’ prescribed by the PCI and NBA respectively are adhered to by the journalists as part of their functioning. It would be obligatory for journalists to abide by these guidelines. The full text has been published as is from Press Information Bureau and has not been edited by the Firstpost staff for style or content