News associations and digital rights organisations in India on May 28 passed a resolution urging the Union government to withdraw new laws that are “aimed at curbing” press freedom, the Press Council of India said in a statement on Friday.

The laws named in the resolution are the Broadcast Services Regulation Bill, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, the Press and Registration of Periodicals Act and the Information Technology Amendment Rules.

The Press Club of India, the Indian Journalist Union, the Delhi Union of Journalists, the DIGIPUB News Foundation, the Internet Freedom Foundation, Working News Cameramen’s Association, Indian Women’s Press Corps, Cogito Media Foundation, and the press clubs of Mumbai, Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram and Chandigarh participated in the meeting on May 28, where the resolution was passed.

The Broadcast Services Regulation Bill “expands regulatory oversight to include OTT [over-the-top] platform and digital content”, the resolution said.

“It will replace [the] Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995,” the resolution added. “It proposes mandatory registration, content evaluation committees for self-regulation and a three-tier regulatory system.”

The news associations and digital rights organisations expressed apprehensions about control and regulation, and “unreasonable restrictions” through these laws on the citizens’ right to know.

The Digital Personal Data Protection Act “curtails the crucial section” of the Right to Information, which has served as a “vital tool for journalists for ferreting out critical information about the functioning of governments and public servants in public interest”, the press bodies said.

The resolution demanded that the Centre either delete or amend all such provisions of the Digital Personal Data Act that are intended to weaken the Right to Information Act.

The Press and Registration of Periodicals Act was criticised by the Editors Guild of India in August for widening the powers of the state to have more intrusive and arbitrary checks on the functioning of newspapers and magazines.

The law empowers the Press Registrar, as well as any other “specified authority”, to enter the premises of a periodical to “inspect or take copies of the relevant records or documents or ask any questions necessary for obtaining any information required to be furnished”.

Under the Information Technology Amendment Rules, the Centre will set up a fact-checking body that has the power to flag any information about the Union government and its workings as “fake”. In March, the Supreme Court stayed the Centre’s notification forming the fact-checking unit.

According to the statement issued on Friday, the Press Council of India, established by an act of Parliament, also demanded that it be replaced by a Media Council to include the broadcast and digital media.

“The Media Council should be empowered to deal with the challenges emanating from a constantly changing media landscape,” it said. “It should comprise working journalists, representatives of unions, owners and the government. It should be empowered to pass strictures on media houses, publications, broadcast and digitally published content and owners and take other such measures.”

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