Taming The Watchdog?

S K Pande

IS the Press Council of India (PCI) set to become an appendage of the government or will it be made totally redundant? These questions are being asked after its belated findings in the Gujarat carnage and in the journalist Gilani case. It took long to react in both these cases and was way behind other press-related bodies. The question is now being asked in view of the fact that it has been hustled out from its old premises and was, at one stage, almost shuttled to UP.

It may be recalled that the first moves to shuttle out the Press Council were made during the tenure of P B Sawant who was known to be vocal and passed strictures on the government and media barons alike. Under the present boss, Jayachandra Reddy, it is now been shuttled out to the Sanchar Bhavan Complex, Lodi Road, along with some government bodies.

The PCI is supposed to be an autonomous institution which strove to have teeth, especially in the days of Sawant. At one stage in the last few years it was almost wound up, just as it was during the Emergency.

Virtually unnoticed these days and starved of staff and funds, despite its chairman also being the chairman of World Press Council, the PCI is trying hard to get a building that it has already paid for. But there also, there is a queue.

For the present, it is in the Lodi Estate Complex, and has a new secretary straight from Tis Hazari courts --- an experienced metropolitan magistrate, Mrs Dhingra.

Meanwhile, in the corridors of power, finishing touches are being given to a list of scribes for government houses. The last list was embroiled in controversy and one would like to see the fate of the new one. Rules often change with governments, just as the structure of Press Information Bureau (PIB) also changes. But one rule is common for press passes and trips: white skin OK, and a big foreign agency OK. And Arab agency still looks out for clearance. The PIB was after all created by the British during the world war, a modern Indian touch notwithstanding. (INN)