South Asia Media Commission on Friday said Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari's suggestion of licensing journalists was against the right of freedom of expression.
It said media organisations would do well to formulate a credible plan for a mechanism at the professional level at the earliest as "the delay on their part has only served to wagging of anti-media tongues".
"Licensing or suggestions like prescribing minimum qualifications for journalists runs straight in the face of the right of expression as guaranteed by the Constitution," Commission's President K K Katyal said in a statement. He said the suspicion about the government's intention has persisted because of the utterances of some of those in the authority.
"The chairman of Press Council of India, Justice Markandey Katju, for instance, has contributed to the confusion on the subject through his statements favouring an official regulatory mechanism for the media, minimum qualification for journalists and the like," Katyal said.
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