Press Council of India has censured Star of Mysore for its hateful editorial targetting the Muslim community for the spread of the pandemic. A censure effectively means Star of Mysore won’t receive advertisements from the government for a period of three months.
Star of Mysore is an English language evening daily newspaper published in Mysore. The Press Council of India is a statutory, adjudicating organisation in India formed in 1966 by its parliament. It is the self-regulatory watchdog of the press, for the press and by the press, that operates under the Press Council Act of 1978.
The PCI’s order comes on the basis of a complaint filed by Hate Speech Beda in May 2020. An inquiry committee had been constituted by the PCI which recommended censure after hearing both parties over a course of approximately 2.5 years.
The inquiry committee found ‘that this editorial may have been written in the context of Corona pandemic but the conclusion is inevitable that it is targeting one community, i.e. the Muslims even though the community had not been explicitly named in the editorial.
Hate Speech Beda is a collective to combat hate speech.
The inquiry committee found ‘that this editorial may have been written in the context of Corona pandemic but the conclusion is inevitable that it is targeting one community, i.e. the Muslims even though the community had not been explicitly named in the editorial.
The PCI refused to accept the apology previously tendered by the newspaper calling the ‘apology not genuine’ & an ‘example of journalism of the worst kind’.
“We welcome this decision PCI as a first step in holding print media accountable to norms of journalistic conduct,
