the goan I network
PANAJI
The Goa Union of Journalists, has opposed and demanded the scrapping of what they believe is a new ‘draconian’ set of guidelines put out by the Goa Vidhan Sabha which will govern the issuance of passes to media persons covering the Assembly sessions.
In a statement to the media, the Union has accused the Legislature Secretariat of trying to block access to a majority of media houses from covering the state, rather than being an enabler for the media to safely cover the assembly proceedings.
“The guidelines strike at the very root of the freedom of speech and the right to be informed -- both of which are at the core of our fundamental rights as citizens -- and more than being an enabler are designed to block access for a majority of media houses and their representatives for covering the assembly,” General Secretary Gerard de Souza said in a statement.
“GUJ is of the opinion that the guidelines, by their very nature, will exclude a majority of newspapers and reporters from covering the proceedings of the assembly, which sadly seems to be the design of these guidelines,” he added, saying that only a handful of newspapers and their representatives would meet the criteria set by the Speaker.
“Aside from the fact that the guidelines use a very vague and arbitrary term to blanket any reporting that can be “perceived as cyber crime” the fact that it speaks about any possible transgressions at an undefined time in the future, is an undisguised threat to reporters of news portals that they are walking on thin ice for no fault of their own,” de Souza said.
GUJ has demanded that these guidelines be withdrawn immediately or be drastically modified “to ensure that no bonafide news organisation and journalist is denied entry for the purpose of covering the legislative assembly sessions.”
“GUJ also demands that a fresh set of guidelines be brought in consultation with the GUJ and the Press Accreditation Committee of the Goa Legislature Secretariat, and the Goa Editors’ Guild,” the statement reads.
