JFA bats for benefits to television employees

Assam : The Journalists’ Forum Assam (JFA) wants due benefits under the guidelines of the Majithia Wage Board to be offered to the journalist and non-journalist television channel employees across the country. 

JFA’s demand was following the recent statement of Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore to bring the electronic media under the jurisdiction of the Press Council of India (PCI). 

“Now it is time for benefiting the electronic media employees with the guidelines of the Majithia Wage Board, which are meant only for the newspaper and news agency employees of the country,” said a statement issued by JFA President Rupam Barua and Secretary Nava Thakuria here today. 

Barua said despite the Supreme Court’s recent instruction to implement the Majithia Wage Board recommendations, many media organisation were yet to follow the court direction and implement the recommendations. 

“There should be a mechanism to check that each and every media house follow the SC guidelines,” he said. 

Demanding a comprehensive and powerful Media Council of India including the electronic media, the JFA advocated for appropriate benefits to the television employees under the statutory wage board. 

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha recently, Rathore had said the PCI was in the process of considering its earlier proposal for making amendments to the Press Council Act, 1978, to bring the electronic media under its jurisdiction. 

The minister also said in its 47th report, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology had recommended that there should be a statutory body like Media Council having eminent persons as its members to look into all media contents both from print and electronic media.