As the Union government of India has nominated 13 media professionals to fill up the space in its statutory & autonomous body, print media surveillance and rights body, the journalist fraternity now hopes for better days ahead in the largest democracy on Earth. After a prolonged delay that invited severe criticism from various corners for not completing the Press Council of India (PCI), the central government in New Delhi on 7 October 2026 reconstituted the 15th council adding six editors (namely (Pradeep Kumar Jain, Sayed Raza Husain Rizvi, Ankur Dua, Aparna Shukla, Raj Parwana/ Narender Singh and Vinod Bajpai) and seven working journalists (namely Vinod Kohli, Geetartha Pathak, Prajnananda Chaudhuri, Kingshuk Pramanik, C K Nayak, Prasanna Kumar Mohanty and Bijoy Kakchingtabam) belonging to newspapers and news agencies. Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai (retired) led PCI had 14 members including lawmakers, representatives from Bar Council of India (BCI), University Grants Commission (UGC), Sahitya Akademi along with a few newspaper owners. However, the 29-member 15th council will expire on 18 December 2027.
But for months, the quasi-judicial PCI was functioning without the representatives of the working journalist (including editor) category. Even a Rajya Sabha member (Sasmit Patra) raised the issue asking the government to complete the current PCI. The Biju Janata Dal leader asserted that the constitution of full-fledged council after the term of 14th council (that expired on 5 October 2024) was necessary for a free, fair and responsible press. Besides the chairperson, the PCI comprises 28 members where 13 individuals represent the journalist fraternity. Till date, the PCI was functioning with the members namely Sudhanshu Trivedi and Brij Lal (Rajya Sabha lawmakers), Dr Sambit Patra, Naresh Ganpat Mhaske and Kali Charan Munda (Lok Sabha members), Prof Ashwini K. Mohapatra (UGC), Manan Kumar Mishra (BCI), Dr K Sreenivasarao (Sahitya Akademi), Sudhir Kumar Panda, MV Shreyams Kumar, Gurinder Singh, Arun Kumar Tripathi, Braj Mohan Sharma and Arti Tripathi (who all either own or carry on the business of management in small-medium- big newspapers).
The crisis for PCI started when some national journo-bodies (including Indian Journalists Union and All India Working News Cameramen’s Association) legally opposed a change in the PCI rules to pick up members from various press clubs instead of the national forum of working journalists. They argue that the press clubs are basically recreational bodies and their coverage areas normally stick to a particular region, city or town. Many press clubs offer memberships to non-working journalists (like academicians, writers, film personalities and also diplomats) to enhance their influences, and hence their members may not do justice to the professional media personnel in various crucial junctures. The robust Indian print media fraternity comprises over 100,000 publications, endorsed by the Registrar of Newspapers for India, in various frequencies and languages of publication.
The billion plus south Asian nation also supports nearly 400 satellite news channels along with thousands of portals, whatsapp channels and other digital media outlets. The revenues collected (from selling and advertisements) by the Indian newspapers continued shrinking after the Covid-19 pandemic, when the alternate media outlets started dominating the financial market space. However, many print observers believe that the traditional media will slowly recover its abrupt loss. Resurgence in readership is expected as the digital fatigue driven consumers will soon turn back to print media outlets for reliable information. It’s estimated that the Indian print media will increase the number of readers almost twice by 2030.
Greatest irony is that the PCI has authorities to accept complaints against any newspaper/news agency or an editor/working journalist for their professional misconduct deteriorating the standard of journalistic behaviours. It has, however, limited power to enforce its guidelines by penalizing print outlets as well their editors and working journalists for the violation of guidelines. Many media professionals are demanding to reorganize the PCI (changing the nomenclature as Media Council of India) with the inclusion of television channels, radio and digital platforms under its jurisdiction. As the press council enjoys the authority to make observations if the conducts of any governments are found not to be appropriate in regards to the guaranteed freedom of the press under the Constitution, the journalist fraternity asks for an empowered and enhanced council with a larger coverage. Should it not happen little early!
Waiting for an inclusive & effective Press Council
