NEW DELHI: The Editors Guild of India (EGI) on Saturday expressed concern over the recently notified Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, saying it has the potential to undermine media freedom in India. It urged the government to put the rules on hold and conduct meaningful consultation with all stakeholders. “The rules, issued under the Information Technology Act, 2000, fundamentally alter how publishers of news operate over the Internet and have the potential to seriously undermine media freedom in India,” said the Guild’s statement.
“They empower the Union government to block, delete or modify published news anywhere in the country without any judicial oversight and mandate all publishers to establish a grievance redressal mechanism. Various provisions in these rules can place unreasonable restrictions on digital news media, and consequently media at large,” it added. Legal experts and digital rights activist have repeatedly raised concerns over the new guidelines since they were notified.
The EGI said it was concerned that the government did not consult stakeholders before notifying the “far-reaching rules”. “The government must take note of the fact that in the name of reining an unfettered social media, it cannot overwhelm India’s constitutional safeguards for free media that has been the cornerstone of our democracy,” the Guild said.
Citing the new rules as a “soft-touch self-regulatory architecture”, the government recently brought into effect a Code of Ethics and three-tier grievance redressal mechanism for news publishers, digital media and OTT platforms.The three-level grievance redressal mechanism will include self-regulation by publishers, addressing grievance within 15 days, self-regulation by publishers’ self-regulating bodies.