Parliament Coverage: Editors Guild urges Birla, Dhankhar to remove restrictions on media for coverage of Parliament

Editors Guild urges lifting of media access restrictions imposed during COVID 19

Parliament media coverage, Editors Guild of India (Editors Guild of India) on July 1 urged Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar to lift the ban on the media to cover Parliament proceedings. In a letter to Birla, the Guild said the move to limit the number of media persons, including permanently accredited journalists, was taken when COVID-19 protocols were in place.

The letter said, ‘The country has fought this crisis and moved forward and we hope that the restrictions (imposed on the media to cover the proceedings of Parliament) will also be lifted.’ The Guild also urged Dhankhar to restore full access to all accredited media persons in the House.

Call for a significant policy change in Parliament

Amid the ongoing efforts to normalise functioning after the Covid-19 pandemic, the Editors Guild of India has called for a crucial policy change in Parliament. In its letter to Speaker Om Birla, the Guild said, “The country has successfully fought the pandemic and moved forward, and we believe that restrictions on media access should also be lifted.”

Apprehensions were also expressed over the non-reconstitution of the Press Advisory Committee

Additionally, the Guild expressed apprehension over the non-reconstitution of the Press Advisory Committee, set up in 1929 under the guidance of Vitthalbhai Patel, the then Speaker of the Central Legislative Assembly.

Urges restoration of unrestricted access to all accredited media persons

While addressing Rajya Sabha Chairman Dhankhar, the Guild urged restoration of unrestricted access for all accredited media persons without the requirement for additional entry passes, stressing the need to streamline bureaucratic processes while making efforts to reduce administrative burden.