The Government has issued a new set of guidelines for journalists working under digital media companies.
The Journalist working for digital news publishers will be recognised under the new Central Media Accreditation Guidelines 2022, published on February 7, by the Press Information Bureau of the I&B ministry.
Digital Media Journalists to be recognized under Central Media Accreditation Guidelines 2022:
The guidelines for the same came into effect from February 1. According to the guidelines, while news aggregators will not be considered for accreditation, digital news publishers that have furnished the requisite information to the I&B ministry under the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code), Rules, 2021, haven’t been found to be in violation and have been in continuous existence for at least a year, will be eligible for accreditation.
About the changes:
A daily, weekly or fortnightly with a circulation of over one lakh, for instance, will be entitled to a quota of 15 people, while a print news agency with over 500 subscribers will get 50 accreditations.
Print and TV news organisations that have digital media arms as an extension will have to adjust them within their quotas. From now onwards, print media journalists applying for fresh accreditations will also need to furnish RNI registration and circulation certificates of their publications, while TV journalists will have to supply a copy of the permission letter from I&B ministry for uplinking and downlinking as a news and current affairs channel.
The other changes are that the Central Media Accreditation Guidelines, 2022 has renamed the ‘long and distinguished category’ accreditation to ‘veterans’ and has removed the mandatory prerequisite, in this category, of persons to hold a PIB accreditation for 20 years to be eligible to apply.
‘Veterans’ who are above the age of 65 years who have worked as journalists for 30 years or more will be eligible to apply. In the freelance category, journalists will have to submit 20 (instead of 15) clippings as before. The government has done away with the mandatory requirement of a CA certificate to prove remuneration through journalism.
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