Latest: PCI guidelines issued Thursday; report says at least 12 journalists were detained on second day of Delhi protests
The Press Council of India issued guidelines on Thursday advising journalists covering protests to carry and display valid ID, stay impartial, follow lawful police instructions and keep away from confrontations. It also asked newsrooms to name a contact person to track reporters and cautioned against publishing real-time police positions or escape routes. The guidelines follow detentions at the October Delhi protests, where one outlet says at least 12 journalists were held on the second day; separately, one outlet reports a Supreme Court hearing on a petition about harassment of women journalists at protests. Summary updated 17 Oct, 18:12 IST
Why it matters: The guidelines bear on how reporters work safely at protests and how police and the press deal with each other, a live press-freedom question in India.
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Summary before this update: The Press Council of India has advised journalists covering protests to carry and display valid ID, stay impartial, follow lawful police instructions and keep away from confrontations. It also asked newsrooms to name a contact person to track reporters, and cautioned against publishing real-time police positions or escape routes. This follows detentions at an October 11 Delhi march; separately, one outlet reports a Supreme Court hearing on a petition about harassment of women journalists at protests.
“What's missing” before this update:
Based on 5 articles read in full. Scores describe each article's framing, not the outlet and not whether it is accurate.
Large outlets read: 1 of 15 (Hindustan Times). Most of India’s largest outlets, including NDTV, India Today, Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Hindu and Indian Express, block our reader in this prototype, so their coverage is missing here. The launch pipeline reads their public feeds.
Coverage agrees on what the guidelines say; outlets differ on emphasis, and on whether the meeting was on October 14 or 15.
No real disagreement between sides in this coverage.
Why: Covers civil-liberties and press-freedom issues with both sides quoted: petitioner and police. Mild tilt from detail on police conduct, but balanced by Mehta's and Bhatia's arguments. Mostly centre.
Why: Plain report of PCI guidelines after journalist detentions; touches civil liberties and policing lightly, with no loaded wording or editorialising, so it sits at centre.
Why: Plain report of a statutory body's journalist guidelines on protest coverage. It touches no ideological dimension and relays the content without praise or criticism of the government.
Why: Plain report of a Press Council advisory on journalist safety and conduct at protests; no ideological framing, no critique or praise of the government in the outlet's own voice.
Why: Mostly a plain report of PCI guidelines. Background on protesters, shutdowns and journalist detentions leans slightly towards civil-liberties framing, but the article makes no explicit criticism of the government.
Critical, Neutral or Supportive, scored separately. It refers to the Union government unless the story is about a state. On the spectrum strip, each dot is an article: its position is the ideology score and its colour is the stance.
If an article would score differently with the parties' roles reversed, that signal is partisanship. It goes into the stance tag, not the ideology score.
High, Medium or Low, based on how much of the article was read, how many clear signals it has, and whether they agree.
Stories with fewer than five articles are marked. A blindspot is a contested story where we found coverage from only one side.
Articles that touch none of the three dimensions, such as a car launch or a match report, carry no ideology score.
This prototype is refreshed by hand (last on 17 Oct, 03:00 IST). At launch:
| Wires and the top 20 outlets | checked every 5 minutes |
| All other outlets | checked every 15 minutes |
| New story | goes up at 3 articles from 2 or more outlets, marked Limited coverage |
| Live stories | new articles added every 15 minutes; summary rewritten at most hourly |
| Home page order | every 15 minutes |
New facts go into a dated update log at the top of the story. New articles carry an “Added” tag. If a note or list changes, the earlier version stays viewable.
A story is Live while coverage arrives, Winding down after about 2 days without new coverage, and Archived after about 7. Nothing is deleted: links never change, archived scores are frozen, and stories stay on their issue pages and in search.
NDTV, India Today, Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Hindu, Indian Express, News18, ABP, Times Now and Mint block the reader used for this prototype, so their articles are missing. Each story shows how many of India’s 15 largest outlets we read. The launch pipeline will read outlets’ public feeds, TV transcripts and Hindi articles.
Editor-in-charge: [name to be added before launch]. Grievance officer under the IT Rules, 2021: [name and contact to be added before launch]. Complaints are acknowledged within 24 hours and resolved within 15 days.
[Who owns and funds Nazariya, to be published before launch]. Nazariya will list every funder and will not accept money from any political party.
Anyone, including the outlet that published an article, can appeal a score: tap any score on a story page, then "Appeal this score" to write to the editor. Outlets can also dispute a summary. The editor reviews every appeal, and any change is recorded below. Appeals: [appeals email to be added before launch].
No detail that could identify a child or a survivor of sexual violence (Juvenile Justice Act, POCSO, BNS section 72). Court cases are reported as what was said and alleged. No analysis of a poll in the 48 hours before voting there (Representation of the People Act, section 126). Press Council and NBDSA norms on communal incidents.