Press Council of India

The Press Council of India is a statutory body that protects press freedom and promotes responsible journalism. Under the Press Council Act, 1978, its central mandate is to preserve the freedom of the press and maintain and improve the standards of newspapers and news agencies in India.

Statutory objectives and functions

Section 13 gives the Council a dual responsibility: protecting the independence of the press and promoting professional standards. Its role is therefore both protective and corrective, rather than that of a government censorship authority.

• The Council helps newspapers and news agencies maintain their independence.
• It builds a code of conduct for newspapers, news agencies and journalists in accordance with high professional standards.
• It seeks to ensure that newspapers, news agencies and journalists maintain high standards of public taste and develop a due sense of both the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.
• It keeps under review developments likely to restrict the supply and dissemination of news of public interest and importance.
• It studies foreign assistance to newspapers and news agencies, and developments such as concentration of newspaper ownership that may affect press independence.

Complaints and corrective action

Under Section 14, the Council may inquire into complaints concerning breaches of journalistic ethics or professional misconduct. It may also initiate an inquiry on its own, but must give the parties concerned an opportunity to be heard.

• Its jurisdiction covers a newspaper or news agency offending against journalistic ethics or public taste, and professional misconduct by an editor or working journalist.
• After an inquiry, it may warn, admonish or censure the newspaper, news agency, editor or journalist, or disapprove the conduct of an editor or journalist.
• It may require a newspaper to publish particulars relating to an inquiry when this is necessary or expedient in the public interest.
• Its corrective authority does not include imposing fines or imprisonment.

Inquiry powers and safeguards

Section 15 gives the Council specified powers of a civil court for its statutory functions, including summoning witnesses, examining them on oath and requiring documents. These powers support fact-finding; they do not make the Council a criminal court.

• The Council cannot compel a newspaper, news agency, editor or journalist to disclose the source of news or information.
• Under Section 14, it cannot inquire into a matter in respect of which proceedings are pending in a court of law.