Will the Press Be Free

Will the Press Be Free?
Nireekshak EVERYONE agrees that the proposals ostensibly to effect diffusion of ownership of the press by an amendment of the Companies Act should never have been published at this stage or in the present form. But that is the only point of agreement about the proposals among those who are directly or indirectly concerned with the press and its working. I say 'proposals' because, according to the authoritative voice of National Herald, "no draft bill seems to have been prepared, and whatever is being discussed is baseless, incomplete, or misleading", 'Baseless'? May be 'incomplete'. But 'misleading'? After all, what is being discussed is a spillover of the discussion initiated at a (secret?) conclave of some journalists and Government officials in the capital, which was sponsored by the concerned Ministries themselves. How then can the discussion be baseless?