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 | Doubly vile: PCI's media guidelines are unwarranted Our Correspondent The Press Council of India's (PCI's) new guidelines for reporting on people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and suffering from acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) not only smack of political correctness but are also an attempt to curb the freedom of expression. Besides, the fatwa issued by the PCI mandarins, if implemented, will seriously hamper reporting on the grave issue. The guidelines stipulate that terms such as "prostitutes" and "gays" used while referring to high risk groups should be replaced with "sex workers" and "men having sex with men," respectively. This is a sanctimonious commandment which no self-respecting newspaper or channel can accept; journalists cannot and should be ordered to give up the use of the words that some tetchy interest groups are uncomfortable with. Further, it is not the job of a publicly-funded body to purge the language of what it or some section of society finds objectionable. If the PCI gets into this exercise in political correctness, it would be straying away from its mandate. It was established in 1966 by Parliament with the objective of, as the PCI website says, "preserving the freedom of the press and of maintaining and improving the standards of press in India… It is a statutory, quasi-judicial body which acts as a watchdog of the press. It adjudicates the complaints against and by the press for violation of ethics and for violation of the freedom of the press, respectively." By indulging in semantic hair-splitting, the PCI would not only be straying away from its mandate but actually militating against the prime objective—that is, "preserving the freedom of the press and of maintaining and improving the standards of press in India." That the PCI is contemplating wasting taxpayers' money to curb the freedom of press makes the guidelines doubly vile. Worse still, the guidelines may lead to misrepresentation of facts. For instance, the PCI wants that HIV should not be called a "scourge." But then what else do you call a virus that has killed millions of people and which will kill millions in the foreseeable future? The PCI wants that before writing a news report on any HIV-positive person, a journalist will have to get a prior-consent form signed by that person. Not surprisingly, newspersons and media barons are opposed to the PCI diktat. Sanjay Gupta, editor of Dainik Jagran, said, "I am totally opposed to the idea of any kind of guidelines… I feel it should be up to the editor or head of the publication to regulate what should be written and how it should be written." This is the way regulation should come into being—from within, and not from the whims and fancies of some sarkari body. Posted on : 11/24/2008 Mail this article to your friend |