We missed this earlier A new self-regulatory body (SRB), Journalist and Media Association Grievances Council (JMAGC), was approved by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) on January 17, 2023, according to a notice on the ministry’s website. The organisation is an SRB for publishers of news and current affairs content under Rule 12 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. The application was submitted by the Journalist and Media Association (JMA) on July 27, 2022. Why it matters: The body becomes the tenth such association to be approved by the MIB since the IT Rules came into effect in May 2021. The criteria for granting approval to these bodies continue to remain unclear which remains a matter of concern. The government has made no efforts to reveal them which makes it ironic given that the purported aim of the IT Rules was to bring about transparency and accountability. Composition of the council: The document revealed the make of the council to be as follows— Justice Vassan, a former district court judge from Kerala, will be the chairperson of the council. The list of members includes— Senior journalist, Suresh Damodaran Advocate at the Kerala High Court, Lekshmi V S President of the JMA, Vysakh Suresh General Secretary of the JMA, Pradeep Karalam Members of JMA: The list provided by the MIB contains the following publications— EBM News (English, Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada) Tip of India News Nedumangadu Online Voice of Punalur News Loudspeaker…
