Ethics and Freedom

Philip Meyer, who has studied the newspaper industry for three decades, can see the darkness at the end of the tunnel. If present readership trends continue indefinitely, says the University of North Carolina professor, the last daily newspaper reader will check out in 2044. October 2044, to be exact. "I use that as an attention-getting device," says Meyer, whose latest book, "The Vanishing...

Deep Throat, the secret source whose insider guidance was vital to The Washington Post's groundbreaking coverage of the Watergate scandal, was a pillar of the FBI named W. Mark Felt, The Post confirmed yesterday. As the bureau's second- and third-ranking official during a period when the FBI was battling for its independence against the administration of President Richard M. Nixon, Felt had the...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the global organisation representing over 500,000 journalists worldwide, has welcomed the passing of the Right to Information Bill by the Indian Parliament on 12 May and called for immediate scrapping of the Official Secrets Act. "The enactment of this significant piece of legislation is a positive step towards establishing the citizen's right to...

The government on Tuesday moved the much-awaited Right to Information Bill with comprehensive amendments that is aimed at empowering the citizens to get any information from the departments, agencies and bodies of the Central, state and local bodies, besides government-aided institutions. However, the Bill has left several loopholes which could be exploited by government officials to suppress...

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said on Thursday that Parliament could not dictate terms to media. "It is entirely for the media to decide which news it will publish or broadcast. They are as much a relevant part of the democratic system and we cannot dictate them," the Speaker observed, when some members drew his attention to "inadequate coverage" of parliamentary proceedings. Somnath said...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the global organisation representing over 500,000 journalists worldwide, today condemned the harassment of senior journalist Anand Swaroop Verma by the Central Bureau of Investigation in India. "Harassment of journalists for their truth telling represents a curtailment of press freedom that must be resisted," said IFJ President Christopher Warren...

The Supreme Court has warned the media against reporting unwarranted criticism of the judges and the judiciary. It said that freedom enjoyed by the media was no licence to indulge in sensationalism and a mechanism should be devised to check the criticism from crossing the limits. A Bench, comprising Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Justice Tarun Chatterjee, pointed out that "wild allegation that...

Faced with disquiet among the media-watchers over "sting operations" using hidden cameras, the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry is considering a regulatory mechanism to protect the privacy of individuals. Still under consideration, the view firming up in the Ministry apparently favours the introduction of a clause to address "sting operations" in the proposed Broadcasting Bill. A...

The Police Commissioner of Mumbai, A.N. Roy, has issued a circular to all police stations and other establishments within his Commissionerate not to give any information to journalists. As stunned crime reporters sought a meeting with the Deputy Chief Minister, R.R. Patil, the Opposition Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party assailed the Police Commissioner for taking a dictatorial step that would...

The Special Public Prosecutor, Manjula Rao, said on Wednesday that she would not allow the media to view a police video of the Best Bakery incident. She did not give any reason for this. When the videotape was produced in court on Tuesday, the Additional Sessions Judge, Abhay Thipsay, asked a member of the court staff to view it along with the defence and the prosecution and note down the details...