TV, Digital Media Journalists Will Soon Be Included In Working Journalists Act

Union Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar has made a big announcement for the electronic and digital media professionals. In a meeting with a delegation of the Indian Federation of Working Journalist (IFWJ), Gangwar said that very soon, digital and electronic media professionals will be included in the Working Journalists Act, which currently recognises only print media journalists.

Gangwar said that the issues raised by them will be addressed under the new provision. The IFWJ delegation had also given a memorandum to the labour minister. In the memorandum, they said that there is a need to protect the specific form of the Working Journalists Act.

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The also demanded an immediate ban on the contractual recruitment of journalists and constitution of a wage board once in every eight years to increase the pay and wages of the journalists. Journalists of IFWJ and from across the country are scheduled to hold a protest in Delhi on October 10 to press the government.

The Working Journalists Act ensure media professionals get all the benifits of government schemes for journalists. As of now, only print media journalists are covered under the act. However, given the recent rise of digital media, there have been increased demand of inclusion of web journalists in the act.