Parliament: No entry zone for media, protests break out

• Image Credit: Internet

• Dec 3, 2021 | moderator

New Delhi: Journalists held a protest on Thursday, 2 December against the government’s decision of limiting the number of journalists inside the Parliament. For the last five parliamentary sessions, most of the media persons have been kept out, citing Covid protocols.

The Editors Guild of India (EGI), Press Association, Indian Women’s Press Corps (IWPC), Press Club of India (PCI), Working News Cameraman Association and various other organizations of journalists extended their support to the protest.

The government’s decision to limit the entry of media persons to the Parliament is totally uncalled for as it is an attack on the ‘Fourth Pillar of Democracy’ and curbing on freedom of speech.

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Press Association president Jaishankar Gupta said the issue needs to be seen from “a larger perspective” as it is not just about restrictions on the number of journalists entering the Parliament premises during the sessions.

While entry passes are being issued through a lottery system and journalists who have permanent passes being denied entry into Parliament, the process for accreditation of journalists by the Press Information Bureau, required to enter ministries and other departments of the government for the purpose of reporting, has been kept on hold for long by the government, he said.

“They do lottery for issuing Parliament passes in which a journalist’s turn for getting an entry pass comes once in a week. Journalists who have a permanent pass cannot enter Parliament. Entry of journalists to the Central Hall of Parliament has already been banned. The intention behind all these restrictions is to not let journalists access information,” he alleged.

PCI president Umakant Lakhera said that he had raised the issue with the authorities, requesting them to lift all restrictions on the entry of media persons into Parliament but all went in vein. “Democracy cannot function without media,” he said.

Office-bearers of various organisations of journalists, while addressing a large gathering of media persons, opined in unison that since the media works as a conduit between the people and lawmakers, it is all the more necessary that the process of free flow of news from Parliament be restored.

The protest meet later passed a resolution, appealing to the Union government in general and the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha in particular to ease off the restriction on journalists’ entry into Parliament with immediate effect.