Editors Guild nails Kerala government for restricting media freedom

On November 15, the Kerala Government issued a circular limiting the freedom of the press in the state. The circular imposed strict restrictions on interaction between media personnel and the Chief Minister, state ministers, and other high-level government officials. The Editors Guild of India has condemned the circular and said this is a direct assault on the freedom of the press.

The Editors Guild of India has described the notice as “a brazen attempt at restraining the movement of media persons while they are discharging their professional duties”. The move, it adds, is “regressive and a direct assault on press freedom”.

The step is a typical characteristic of any communist government. The communist ideology when in power suppresses every voice of dissent. Earlier they treated RSS as a threat and now media is added in their list. The circular issued by Home Secretary Subrata Biswas, says, those journalists possessing entry pass will only be allowed inside any section of the department. Further, he told that the secretariat will only be accessible during the time allotted for those who don’t have an entry pass.

The Editors Guild urged the state government to revoke the directives without any delay and noted, “This makes senior government representatives attending public functions out of bounds for them (media persons)”.

Following the public outrage, it sparked, CM Pinarayi Vijayan, spoke to the Kerala Legislative Assembly, and claimed that the circular was not issued to restrict journalists, but was in fact intended to help them in conducting their work properly. Vijayan also said, the concerns that arose from various fronts would be examined and the notice would be revised. But the circular has neither been revoked nor is it clear what sections of the circular will be amended.

While hinting at making some changes to the circular during the Assembly sessions, Pinarayi Vijayan said that press conferences could be attended by all those with a press or an entry pass. However, in the same session, he also stated that in the era of online and television media, the practice of media persons approaching ministers frequently raised “security concerns”. He also suggested that the media should be informed about the working of government through the PR Department.

This makes it particularly unclear about what kind of changes the revised circular will see. Whether the ‘final notice’ that will be filtered by the PR department will prove satisfactory enough to be published further or will it sing the praise of the Communist government is something that only the time will tell.