DM Ramban asks police to identify fake media groups

Ramban: District Magistrate (DM) Ramban has asked the police to identify fake media groups operating without proper registration.

He has also asked the police to “verify the antecedents, and source of funding of all so-called journalists who operate the illegal portals without any valid degree, qualification and authorization from the competent authority.”

   

District Magistrate Mussarat Islam, vide letter No DCR/PS- Camp/ 1718-23 dated May 23, 2022, issued these directives to SSP Ramban while inviting her attention towards the “mushroom growth of illegal and unregistered portal-based news organizations operating through various social media platforms, especially Facebook, which are seen spreading propaganda, fake news and also indulging in blackmail of government functionaries in the district.”

He further noted in the letter that on most of the occasions, they were seen “interfering in smooth running of the administrative affairs and planting anti-Government stories which were largely aimed at maligning the image of the administration and always portraying them in bad light.”

“A large number of District and Sectoral Officers have complained of harassment at their hands and stated that many self-proclaimed media persons, without carrying any authentic identification, barge into their offices and start recording videos and posting them in various social media groups. If channels and journalists operating these illegal portals remain unchecked, there is every apprehension of emerging law and order situations which have the potential to disturb the peaceful fabric of the district,” DM Ramban observed in the letter.

“In view of the wider public interest”, he asked the SSP to “identify all such fake media groups operating in the district without proper registration.”

“A list of such fake media groups and self-styled journalists should be compiled and immediately submitted to the office of the District Development Commissioner within the stipulated time for taking further necessary action in the matter,” he further directed.

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