Mumbai Press Club Condemns Maharashtra Govt’s Media Monitoring Initiative

Moneylife Digital Team 10 March 2025

Economy & Nation

The Mumbai Press Club has strongly criticised the Maharashtra government’s decision to establish a media monitoring centre, calling it an act of surveillance disguised as an effort to curb misinformation. The move, which aims to track news coverage across print, television, digital and social media, has raised concerns about press freedom and governmental overreach.

According to a government resolution (GR) outlining the initiative, the centre will categorise news content as ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ concerning the government. The Mumbai Press Club warns that such a classification system, lacking clear definitions, poses a significant risk of conflating legitimate criticism with misinformation.

“This initiative effectively grants the government the power to determine what constitutes positive and negative reporting,” the Mumbai Press Club stated. “There is a real danger that any form of critique will be labelled as negative, thereby stifling journalistic independence.”

Critics argue that this could lead to profiling and targeting of media outlets or journalists who express dissenting views. The Press Club emphasised that such measures act as an indirect warning to media organisations, discouraging them from publishing stories that may be deemed unfavourable by the administration.

A major concern highlighted by the Mumbai Press Club is the government’s assumption of the role of sole arbiter of truth. Drawing parallels with the union government’s previous attempt to establish a fact-checking unit (FCU) to identify ‘fake and false’ content on social media—an initiative recently struck down by the Bombay High Court —the press club reiterated the judiciary’s stance that such policies infringe upon freedom of speech and create a ‘chilling effect’ amounting to censorship.

“When a significant portion of news coverage revolves around the government and its policies, allowing the administration to dictate what is truthful and what is not represents a clear conflict of interest,” the statement continued. “Instead of imposing its own narrative, the government must have the courage to confront inconvenient truths.”

The Maharashtra government has yet to respond to the backlash, but media professionals and civil rights activists have joined the call to reassess the monitoring centre’s mandate. The Mumbai Press Club insists that upholding press freedom is essential for democracy and urges the government to reconsider its approach to media oversight.

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