September 09, 2024 • Makkal Adhikaram
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Tamil Nadu has demanded that the government should relax the condition of providing identity cards to journalists and enrolling them as members of the Journalists Welfare Board.
The Government have issued both Journalists Application Form and Identity Card Application Form for enrolling as members of the Journalists Welfare Board. Both have caused great shock and turmoil among journalists.
In particular, there is a perception that small newspapers are completely marginalized. All those who work in different branches of journalism are journalists. But how is it fair for the government to segregate journalists and narrow down the number of journalists to only a handful of journalists
How is it justified to make getting a government identity card a precondition for journalists to get some of the concessions that journalists fought for? The procedure for obtaining identity cards for journalists for the year 2023 has been tightened.
This has filtered out journalists, especially small and medium journalists. Appointment order of journalists. Educational certificates of journalists. Proof of remuneration through the bank. Accounting by auditor for three years. Periodicals 10,000 copies. Printing bills for printing.
It is very difficult to pass such regulations in practice. This is not unknown to the government. As you know, small newspapers are often not commercially oriented. If we calculate the cost of printing newspapers, printing charges, cost of distribution and administrative expenses, even if 10,000 copies are printed, small magazines will incur losses. You can’t run a newspaper.
With the expansion of visual media and social media, how can small magazines survive? How can a loss-making small magazine print 10,000 copies? Can you give accounts through an auditor to small newspapers which are run at a very low cost and with losses?
How is it fair to ask for a three-year account right now? Barring a few, many small magazines are socially responsible and serve as the fourth pillar of democracy. The small press is compelled to cut costs in every way to make up for the losses.
Salary is one of them. Therefore, in small newspapers, the focus of social responsibility is not the main thing, but the focus of social responsibility. There are a lot of small and dedicated journalists who do not get paid and are not able to get it regularly.
How is it practical to bring them under the definition of salary, that too through the bank? Social knowledge and experience are enough for journalists rather than educational qualifications. In this regard, the rules for small and small journalists to get identity cards should be relaxed.
It is not possible to implement from the current year. It should be implemented from next year. All newspapers should be RNI registered. RNI registration has to be renewed annually. Proof of work and a certificate of experience from the publishing houses in which they are working should be produced.
Newspapers should continue to be published without stopping. Secretariat, Local Police Station, Local Body. It should also be distributed to offices, branches, libraries and the significant public. Not less than 3000 copies should be printed. These should be monitored and controlled by the government.
There is no need to differentiate between Accreditation Card and Press Pass in issuing Government Identity Cards. It should be issued as a single identity card. We hope that the Tamil Nadu government will pay attention to this and bring about a change in the right way. The government should pay due attention to ensure that genuine small journalists who work with the intention of social responsibility do not suffer. CPI state secretary R. Mutharasan has stressed that the activities of the Journalists Welfare Board should be transparent.
