Media organisations will be asked for a clarification if the news is 'twisted' or 'wrong facts' are presented in the news item, according to the Uttar Pradesh government directive.
The Yogi Adityanath government has directed all the District Magistrates (DMs) and Divisional Commissioners to verify 'negative news' published in newspapers and media outlets and seek a clarification from the media organisation in case it is "twisted or facts have been wrongly portrayed".
The directive says that 'negative news' tarnishes the image of the state government and should be acted upon.
In a letter dated August 16 in Hindi, Sanjay Prasad, Principal Secretary to CM Yogi Adityanath, told all DMs and commissioners that to lodge all articles with 'negative news' on the Integrated Grievance Redressal System (IGRS) and all DMs, commissioners, and heads of department will get it resolved.
"In such cases, all district magistrates will write a letter to the department concerned. Then, the scanned copy of that article will be uploaded on the public hearing portal IGRS," said Prasad's letter shared online.
Prasad directed the officials to get a clarification from media organisations in case the news was "twisted" or "facts were wrongly portrayed".
"If it comes to notice that if in any newspaper/media, an incident is twisted or wrong facts are being mentioned, and negative news is published while making an effort to tarnish the image of the state government or district administration, then a letter should be sent by the concerned district magistrate to the manager of the respective media group/newspaper to clarify the situation. And, a copy will be marked to the Information Department," says the letter.
A senior official told The Indian Express that "fact-checking" was the objective of the directive.
The official said, "The rationale of this circular is that several news items are being published and the government faces criticism as such news items are further followed up and spread by others and tarnish the image of the government. Now, such news items will be verified by the concerned district magistrates. It is just about fact-checking."
Director of Information and Public Relations Shishir told The Express that any action is not going to be taken against any paper.
"It is not that we are going to take any action against the newspapers. It is to verify the facts. We will do it when a news item is published on any issue," Shishir was quoted as saying by the paper.