-Newslaundry.com No meaningful purpose to serve on the committee anymore, Anant Bagaitkar wrote in a letter to the Rajya Sabha chairman. To register a protest against the curbs on media access to parliament, senior journalist Anant Bagaitkar on Tuesday resigned as the secretary of the Media Advisory Committee to the Rajya Sabha, the Press Club of India tweeted. The committee consists of representatives from media organisations accredited to the Press Gallery of the...

-The Telegraph Reporters are not allowed access to the media galleries inside the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha and the Central Hall Journalists protesting against the Narendra Modi government’s move to restrict the media’s entry into Parliament to cover proceedings, which many believe is a ploy to censor news and prevent information flow to citizens, are planning a march after an open letter and appeals by Opposition leaders had no effect.  The...

-Newslaundry.com AAP government expelled seven reporters of the paper from a Whatsapp group after one of them reported critically on its handling of the oxygen crisis. On May 6, the Delhi government’s Media Cell removed seven Hindustan Times reporters from a Whatsapp group meant for sharing press notes, including a daily health bulletin. Vikas Yogi, the Arvind Kejriwal government’s Chief Media Coordinator who removed the reporters, didn’t offer a reason but journalists in...

-The Hindu Notes several instances of govt pressure on media outlets Washington DC: In its 2020 Human Rights Report, the U.S. State Department said the harassment and detention of journalists critical of the (Indian) government in their reporting and on social media, has continued, although the government generally respected the freedom of expression. It also said government’s requests for user data from Internet companies had increased “dramatically.” The report, which is submitted each...

-The Indian Express These rules come even as a Joint Parliamentary Committee is in the final stages of discussion of a privacy Bill that covers aspects such as the role of social media intermediaries and the reach of Big Tech companies, and the privacy accorded to the users on such platforms. The notification of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, the Government’s first move to regulate...