Press Council of India

August 26, 2019 August 26, 2019

The Press Council of India is a statutory body responsible for adjudicating the press in India. It was formed in 1966 by an act of parliament.

The Press Council of India is a self-regulatory body for the press.
It operates on a principle similar to that of democracy i.e. of the press, for the press and by the press.
The council is operated under the Press Council Act of 1978 and comprises of a council which has a chairman and 28 additional members.
While the chairman of the PCI is usually a retired Supreme Court judge, the additional members are members of media who are nominated by the newspapers, television channels and other media outlets working in India.
The council also has 5 are members of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
The PCI is responsible for accepting the complaints which are made against and by the press in matters which are related to a journalist or a media organization’s ethical failures.
The Council is responsible to investigate, issue a report and can also “warn, admonish, censure or disapprove” the parties it finds at fault.
However, the PCI has no powers to enforce nor impose any penalty on the individual journalists and publications.

The Press Council of India (PCI) issues the “Norms of Journalistic Conduct”.
This code of conduct is one of the two journalism-related codes used in India.