New Delhi: Asserting that the government had no intention to interfere in the freedom of the Press, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on May 9 put the onus on editors to take steps against publication of obscene pictures.

Stating that he had been receiving numerous representations from the Press Council of India asking for more powers to deal with vulgarity, he said, "I want to make it clear that the government has no intention to interfere with the freedom of the Press. It is the editors who should decide the 'lakshman rekha' keeping in mind larger national interests and morality."

Criticising the "recent trend" of allowing "market forces" to decide the quantity of news in a newspaper, he said, at a seminar on "Market, Media and Mission", that "news must not be what is squeezed in the space between advertisements".

"If markets are everything, editors get blurred and that will have long-term implications", Prasad said at the seminar organised by pro-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) 'Panchajanya', reminding that the Fourth Estate had a noble function to perform in a Democracy.

PTI