Govt Nominates 13 Working Journalists to Press Council of India
Gazette notification names six editors and seven other working journalists to the statutory media body
GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 9th Oct: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has notified the nomination of 13 working journalists to the Press Council of India (PCI), including six editors and seven journalists from other professional categories, through a Gazette notification dated October 7.
The notification, issued under the Press Council Act, 1978, amends the earlier government notification of December 19, 2024, to include the names under the categories reserved for working journalists.
The six editors nominated to the Council are Pradeep Kumar Jain, Sayed Raza Husain Rizvi, Ankur Dua, Aparna Shukla, Raj Parwana/Narender Singh, and Vinod Bajpai.
The seven working journalists nominated under the category other than editors are Vinod Kohli, Geetartha Pathak, Prajnananda Chaudhuri, Kingshuk Pramanik, C.K. Nayak, Prasanna Kumar Mohanty, and Bijoy Kakchingtabam.
Among the nominees is Mr C.K. Nayak, a senior journalist based in New Delhi and the elected President of the Press Association, one of India’s oldest bodies representing accredited journalists. The Press Association is recognised by the Government of India. His nomination brings his experience in journalism and professional representation to the Press Council of India.
The nominations have been made under Section 5(3)(a), read with Section 6(1) of the Press Council Act, 1978. The notification was issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in New Delhi.
The development comes amid wider debate over the composition and functioning of the Press Council of India, a statutory, quasi-judicial body mandated to preserve press freedom and maintain standards in newspapers and news agencies.
The Editors Guild of India had recently demanded the immediate reconstitution of the Council and the filling of vacant seats reserved for journalists, arguing that professional representation was essential to the institution’s independence and credibility.
The latest notification formally names journalists under the two working-journalist categories. It does not, by itself, provide details of any further changes to the Council’s overall composition.
