India’s capital, New Delhi – Journalists in India are criticising the government’s intention to use a “lottery method” to limit the number of reporters who can cover the ongoing winter session of parliament, calling it a “ploy to suppress the transmission of news and information to the public.”
On Thursday, dozens of journalists and representatives from the Indian press and media gathered at the Press Club of India (PCI) in New Delhi, shouting cries like “Long live press freedom” and demanding access to parliament.
Last year, the administration limited media access to the parliament, citing the coronavirus outbreak.
A “lottery system” was introduced ahead of the parliament’s winter session, which began on Monday, to allow 60 journalists into the Lok Sabha (lower house) and 32 into the Rajya Sabha (upper house), with 11 and 10 slots reserved for government-run and select media organisations and agencies, respectively.
The restriction has enraged the media, who claim that the number of journalists allowed inside the residence has been “dramatically decreased,” according to news agency.
“It started with the pretext of COVID in 2020 but now things have gone too far and this is the reason why I say that if we don’t protest now, this will become a permanent thing,” editor and TV anchor Rajdeep Sardesai said in his address to the protesting journalists.
“The present lottery system which has been devised is giving no access at all to the smaller newspapers. You cannot cover parliament only by watching Sansad TV,” he said, referring to the government channel that telecasts parliamentary proceedings.
“In the world’s largest democracy, the admittance of journalists into the parliament is regulated through [a]’lottery system,'” the PCI stated in a statement on Tuesday. In a parliamentary democracy like India, this is a very worrisome trend.”
According to the PCI, constraints on parliament reporting placed in the aftermath of the epidemic were increased during the fifth session of parliament.
“Assurances given to us were not complied with,” it said.
“We are concerned that there is a depressing trend emerging to isolate parliament and parliamentarians from media gaze,” the letter said, adding that the “trend augurs ill of parliamentary democracy and [is] much against the spirit of our parliamentary democracy”.
The move, according to a journalist covering parliament’s proceedings for an English publication, is “not good for our democracy.”
“As per the new guidelines, I can cover the parliament proceedings only for four or five days during the 19-day-long winter session because media organisations have access to cover the parliament proceedings on a rotational basis,” he said on condition of anonymity.
“The flow of information is skewed now.”
According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), India ranks 142nd out of 180 nations in the 2021 World Press Freedom Index, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is labelled as a “predator” of press freedom.
Modi’s government has been accused by India’s opposition parties and human rights groups of targeting journalists with draconian laws, dominating a sector of right-wing news media, and delaying debate on crucial topics in parliament.
The government overturned the contentious farm regulations by voice vote on Monday, dismissing the opposition’s demand that the issue be debated in parliament.
“It is very undemocratic what the government is doing by keeping the media out of reporting because in a parliamentary democracy the media plays a very important role,” Sanjay Kapoor, general secretary of the Editors Guild of India, told news agency.
“They use the pretext of coronavirus to keep them away but now when every possible thing has opened up, malls and airlines, and they still want to keep the media away, their intentions need to be questioned,” he said.
“It’s a pattern which is visible with this government. They don’t want the media to question them.”
