Editors Guild flags DPDP rules for failing to safeguard journalistic work

The Editors Guild of India on Wednesday said the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Rules, notified recently, do not address the concerns around journalistic work falling within the purview of the law.

In a statement, the Guild said it had highlighted the DPDP Act's shortcomings, which included the dilution of the Right to Information regime and the absence of any explicit journalistic exception, and asserted that the newly issued rules continue to leave critical questions unresolved for journalists and media organisations.

In July this year, S Krishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), held a meeting with press bodies and assured that journalistic work would not fall within the purview of the DPDP Act, the Guild said.

"The Guild, along with other media organisations, had urged the MeitY to issue a legally tenable clarification or amendatory provision to explicitly safeguard journalistic activities," it said.

The Guild has urged MeitY to issue a clear and categorical clarification exempting bona fide journalistic activity from the consent and processing requirements of the Act.

"Ambiguous obligations around consent risk exposing journalists and newsrooms to compliance burdens that may impede routine reportage," it said.

Without explicit exemptions or clarifying guidance, the possibility remains that journalistic activities could be interpreted as "processing" requiring consent, thereby chilling newsgathering and hindering accountability journalism, the Guild said.

In the absence of such clarity, confusion and over-compliance "will weaken press freedom" and obstruct the media's essential role in a democratic society.

The DIGIPUB News India Foundation also issued a statement, arguing that the new rules endanger journalism and weaken India's transparency regime by diluting the Right to Information Act.

DIGIPUB said the framework grants sweeping access and enforcement powers to the government without providing any statutory exemption for journalists.