Fake journalists getting PIB accreditation has become a norm in Delhi !

Japanese news agency JIJI Press hires FCC Manager as “Journalist” !!

New Delhi, June 24 (Delhi Crown): Journalism is losing its sheen by the day. Particularly in Delhi, the capital of Indian Journalism.

For a moment forget all the nonsensical debates on the Idiot Box. We’re talking about how people from non-journalistic backgrounds are entering into the field of Journalism at much ease, flourishing, and throwing their weight around in the corridors of power!

May it be known to the mandarins of the Press Information Bureau (PIB), Government of India, and the Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, that a large number of the journalists accredited with the PIB do hardly stand up to the mark. They do every YOGA (including a Sheershashan) to meet the “terms and conditions” laid down for renewing one’s PIB card..!

Gone are the days when there used to be “racket” of getting one’s PIB Card renewed for retaining the bungalow located in prestigious Lutyens’ Delhi.

In yesteryears, after much hullaballoo over some of the senior guys in the “PIB Committee” getting their PIB Cards renewed for simply retaining their bungalows, including ANI’s Number Two Surender Kapoor, now the “system” of getting PIB accommodation is over. Thanks to some genuine reforms made over the years….!

Now, yet another SCAM is cropping up there. That of grabbing a PIB card and getting it renewed every year. Fake journalists who don’t live in Delhi and are barely into active journalism, get their PIB Cards renewed every year after “placing” their 15-20 bylines appearing in meaningless publications round the year.

Some foreign media’s Bureau Chiefs posted in Delhi are even more responsible for creating much of the mess. They appoint non-journalists of Indian origin at very low salaries and then get PIB cards made for them at the drop of a “Letter from Editor”. Careful research by PIB officials can easily catch these Indian journalists in “foreign category” red-handed….!

Two cases that can be mentioned here with much alacrity are two guys hired, one each, by two Japanese news agencies – Kyodo News and Jiji Press.

Kyodo News’ Ashish Nijhawan is a non-journalist by any standard, yet he has retained his PIB Card for the past 5-6 years…!

Nijhawan was initially appointed by Kyodo News in the capacity of a Junior Manager sometime around 2010, but was gradually promoted to the post of “Correspondent” accredited with the PIB by the year 2016….!

Second, even more glaring, example is that of JIJI Press which in the month of June 2022 appointed a guy named Sanjay Massey, who worked as the Manager at the Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC) of South Asia till the second week of this month.

Now, it is learnt that Massey is leaving no stone unturned to get himself the PIB accreditation….!

During his tenure as the FCC Manager, Massey was accused of several financial bungling and “misuse of power” while hobnobbing with FCC President Munish Gupta, who again is a non-journalist and is the brother of infamous Manoranjana Sinh – the former wife of Late Matang Sinh, and one of the accused in Sarada Scam.

Incidentally, it is also gathered that Massey also holds a “post of benefit” in the Delhi Minorities Commission….!

www.thedelhicrown.com has copies of all the proofs of assertions made in this article.