It is high time courts are required to bestow their supervisory jurisdiction on print and electronic media as well, when occasions demand, the Karnataka High Court has said. Stating that persons who handle print and electronic media are “required to show utmost restraint in using unparliamentary or defamatory words while reporting news”, the court said: “It is expected that people who are managing the print and electronic media, editors/chief editors bestow their best attention in achieving the said object.”
Justice V. Srishananda made these observations while quashing the criminal proceedings initiated against the editors of four Kannada newspapers in 2012 based on a complaint by an advocate.
The court quashed the proceedings after the petitioner-editors tendered an unconditional apology along with an undertaking that they would exercise necessary restraint while preparing news item/s so as to not to harm the dignity of all concerned, and maintain prudent attitude while reporting news.
Davalsab Nadaf, Gadag-based advocate, had filed the defamation case before the magistrate court in Gadag against four newspapers for publishing defamatory words while reporting the statements made by a member of the Legislative Assembly on the incident of violence on the premises of Bengaluru city civil and sessions court complex in 2012 following clashes between advocates, media personnel, and the police.
The petitioner-editors had moved the High Court against the proceedings in the magistrate court.
The High Court said that the journalists and print and electronic media cater to the needs of the general public and they owe a social responsibility to maintain peace and tranquillity; and such reports published in the media are required to be strictly in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Press Council of India (PCI).
“The words used by the four newspapers in their reports are per se intolerable and beyond the scope of the guidelines issued by the PCI,” the High Court said.
“It is often said that the print and electronic media/journalists form Forth Pillar of the democracy. If they claim so, they should work and act in that regard with utmost care and caution. Publication of news item has got wide implication on society at large,” Justice Srishananda observed.
Even today, the High Court said, a major section of society believes a news item as gospel truth without looking for corroboration or verification and when such is the confidence reposed by the public of the country in media, the persons who handle media are required to show utmost restraint while using words, the High Court observed.
