New Delhi, Sept 1 : Prime Minister's Office today rubbished reports that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has decided to set up a group to deal with accountability issues related to the media.
“No such group has been set up... No decision has been taken to form any group,” PMO sources said, while referring to the reports appearing in the media.
The issue had come up at the Union Cabinet meeting on Tuesday with some ministers opining that media had not played a constructive role during the recent Anna Hazare agitation and something needed to be done about it. According to reports, Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath had raised the issue at the Cabinet meeting.
PTI had circulated a report on Wednesday night saying that the government was looking at ways to address the issue of Anna movement being fuelled by media by curtailing exaggerations in press reports. The report quoting government sources said there was a plan to set up a committee to look into the issue of exaggerations in media reports and playing up of certain events and suggest ways of dealing with the menace without curbing press freedom.
The issue figured at Tueday's meeting of the unionCabinet. Urban Development Minister Kamalnath expressed his opinion on the issue and maintained that some restrictions need to be imposed on media reports to prevent exaggerations, sources said.
Some sections in the government had felt that Anna Hazare's agitation at the Ramlila grounds was hyped up by the media and the euphoria around the issue was a result of the extensive coverage given to it. This had created an undue pressure on the government.
It had also prevented criticism of some of the wrongs committed by a section of the crowd which had engaged in unacceptable behaviour.
In the recent past, there have been other instances where media reports have created a hype over certain events, resulting in undue pressure on the government and people being misled by the report about the real picture. PTI
