As has been recommended by the Press Council of India (PCI) Sub-Committee during its recent visit to Kashmir, the Department of Information & Public Relations (DIPR) has formally proposed to the Government constitution of the State Media Advisory Committee (SMAC) to hash-out the day-to-day issues confronting the journalists in the State while discharging their professional duties.The proposal for constitution of the State Media Advisory Committee was approved by the Minister for Information, Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali at a review meeting of the DIPR here on Wednesday.As recommended by PCI, the 25-member SMAC shall have one representative each from the Associations of Editors, Journalists, Photojournalists, Video-journalists and the Local News Agencies in J&K as its member, besides there will be five official members to be nominated by the State Government. The SMAC will also have the members from news divisions of Radio Kashmir and Doordarshan Kendra Srinagar. The Director Information will be the Member Secretary of the SMAC.Accordingly, the DIPR had asked all the media associations in the State to inform the Department about their presence and credentials so that their representatives can be nominated to SMAC.
The Media Associations that have been brought into the notice of the DIPR till date include Kashmir Editors Guild led by Fayaz Ahmad Kaloo of Greater Kashmir, Joint Forum of Newspaper Editors J&K led by Ghulam Hassan Kaloo of Mirror of Kashmir, Jammu Newspaper Guild led by Raj Daluja of State Times and A K Sawhney of Journey Line, Jammu and Kashmir Small & Medium Newspapers Association led by Nazir Ahmad Makhdoomi, J&K Correspondents Club led by Yousuf Jameel of Asian Age, Kashmir Working Journalists Association led by Mohammad Saleem Pandit of Times of India, Working Journalists Association Kashmir led by Peerzada Aashiq of The Hindu, Kashmir Journalists Corps led by Ishfaq-ul-Hassan of DNA, Kashmir Young Journalists Association led by Moazzam Mohammad of Kashmir Reader, Press Club Jammu headed by Ashwani Kumar of AajTaj, Kashmir Video-Journalists Association led by Sheikh Tariq of NDTV, Kashmir Photo-Journalists Association led by Farooq Javed Khan of Rising Kashmir, Indian Working Journalists Association (J&K Chapter) led by Uday Chand, Anantnag Working Journalists Association led by S Tariq, All India Reporters Association (J&K Chapter) led by Haq Nawaz Nehru and News Agencies Association J&K led by Mohammad Aslam of KNS.To set the process into motion for constitution of the State Media Advisory Committee, these media associations have been asked to forward the name of one of their representatives to be nominated as a member to SMAC.