Indian government to grant accreditation to online journos

After witnessing the popularity of blogging after the Dec. 26 Southeast Asian tsunami -- for both reporting and relief efforts -- and seeing how blogging impacted U.S. and British elections, Indian officials are beginning the process of granting accreditation to bloggers and other online journalists, according to The Times of India. For several years, online journos have had a "tough battle with the official machinery to gain access to government offices and confererences through the mandatory Press Information Bureau (PIB) accreditation," said the Times. [See related OJR article on bloggers and The Times of India.] "The idea is to sequester the genuine from the fraud and acknowledge those who really want to make a difference. They will be given facilities and better access through accreditation," said an official quoted in the article. He explained that the government is reviewing accreditation models used by the UN and commonwealth countries.