YSR Cong govt empowers secretaries to sue media for false news

The Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday decided to empower secretaries concerned to initiate legal action against the media if it published "false news" that could "hamper the progress of the state."
The state cabinet, which met here on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Jagan, decided to implement government order (No.938) issued on February 20, 2007 and initiate legal action against "defamatory news spread with malafide interest in print, electronic and social media."
Justifying the decision, the minister said in the memorandum that adverse news would "bring down the morale of the implementing agency, department and officer, which ultimately would lead to suboptimal performance and can hamper the progress of the state."