A three-member fact finding committee (FFC) of the Press Council of India on Jammu and Kashmir has said that the news media in the Union Territory, especially in the valley, is "slowly being choked" due to extensive curbs imposed by the local administration.
Six months after the PCI, a statutory quasi-judicial body which acts as a press watchdog, set up the FFC headed by Prakash Deubey (convenor) with members Suman Gupta and Gurbir Singh on a complaint by People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti in September last year, it has submitted its report to the council which is yet to debate and adopt it.
In its report last week, the FFC said “news media in the Jammu and Kashmir region, and especially in the valley is slowly being choked mainly because of the extensive curbs imposed by the local administration.” “Our conclusion and recommendation is very specific: those indulging in any criminal acts, are not journalists pursuing their profession. If a ‘journalist’ is bearing arms or carrying grenades and other ammunition, he is not a journalist; he is a militant, and should be treated as such," the FFC said after meeting all stakeholders in its visits to twin capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar.
