Journalist Associations Submit Plea Against Accreditation Restrictions

Visakhapatnam, Feb 3: Leaders of several journalist unions submitted a representation to K. Sada Rao, Deputy Director of the Information and Public Relations (I&PR) Department, urging him to withdraw the decision that press accreditations for local newspapers with a circulation exceeding 5,000 copies would be issued only after a verification proc ess.
They met him on Tuesday at his office near Zilla Parishad Junction in the city and discussed the issue. The union leaders stated that in no other district in the state are accreditations being withheld in the name of verification, and said such practices in Visakhapatnam district amount to harassment. They questioned the need for yet another verification when similar exercises had already been conducted in the past.
They asked whether rules apply only to small newspapers and not to others. They said that the proposal to verify small newspapers with circulation above 5,000 copies was not discussed comprehensively in the District Media Accreditation Committee, and that such verification should not be imposed without the consent of committee members, including representatives of journalist unions and journalists.
They cautioned officials against forcing their intentions upon the committee. They also recalled that while the previous government had reduced accreditations, the present government had promised to increase them; however, instead of increasing, accreditations had reportedly reduced further under G.O. No. 84. They termed it unjust to further deny accreditations.
The unions requested that the idea of verification be withdrawn and that press accreditations be issued to regularly published newspapers, irrespective of circulation.
Responding to the representation, the Deputy Director assured them that the issue would be brought to the notice of the District Collector, who is the Chairman of the District Media Accreditation Committee, and steps would be taken to resolve it.
Those who met the Deputy Director included APUWJ District President and Media Accreditation Committee Member K. Ramu; Local Newspapers Association President P. Satyanarayana; APUWJ Gajuwaka Unit President K. Parashuram; Association of Small and Medium Newspapers for India State General Secretary Molli Kamal Kumar; AP Electronic Media Association representative Ravikumar; senior journalist Harinath; and Local Newspapers Association representatives Kadali Rajendra Prasad, M. Srihari, among others.