New Delhi, Nov 1: The Editors Guild on Tuesday termed as "ill-considered" the comments made by the new Press Council of India Chairman Markandey Katju against the media and vowed to oppose any move by it to assume "draconian" powers and bring the electronic media under its ambit.
Alleging that Katju has been making negative statements ever since he assumed office, the Guild said his comments in an interview last week "touched a new low".
"The Editors Guild of India deplores the ill-considered, sweeping and uninformed comments on the media and media professionals by the new chairman of the Press Council of India Justice Markandey Katju," the Editors Guild said in a statement here.
In a recent interview, Katju had said he held a "poor opinion" of media personnel in general accusing them of often working in an "anti-people" manner and advocating more teeth to the council to regulate them.
He had also said that he had written to the Prime Minister for inclusion of TV channels under the Press Council and renaming it as the Media Council.
"Press freedom is a bulwark for the Indian people against the onslaught of people in authority, and the Guild will firmly oppose the assumption of any draconian powers by a Press Council that was created with an altogether different purpose," the Guild said.
Further, as the very name of the Council suggests, only the print media comes within the Council's ambit, it said.
"The issues and drivers of the electronic media are such that they call for separate regulation. Therefore the Guild firmly believes that the Press Council should have its brief limited to the print media, as it is at the present," the Guild said.
