The Central government on February 7 released the Central Media Accreditation Guidelines-2022, under which the accreditation will be withdrawn or suspended if a journalist acts in a manner prejudicial to the country’s security, sovereignty, and integrity, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, or is charged with a serious cognizable offense. Apart from it, the accreditation can also be withdrawn/suspended for actions prejudicial to decency, or morality, or in relation to contempt of court, defamation, or incitement to an offense.
According to the new guidelines, accredited media persons have been prohibited from using the words “Accredited to the government of India” on public/social media profiles, visiting cards, letterheads, or on any other form or any published work
In the case of digital news publishers, the general terms of accreditation would apply. News aggregators will not be considered. The digital news publishers applying for accreditation should have furnished requisite information to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting under Rule 18 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code), Rules, 2021, and have not violated the rules.
In the new policy for online news platforms, the website should have continuously operated for at least one year. The Editor of the news portal should be an Indian national. The website should have a registered office in India and the correspondents should be based in Delhi or National Capital Region. No accreditation will be granted to freelance journalists working for foreign news media organizations.
