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New Delhi: Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday (October 28) said that the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act would not affect journalistic freedom and that there was no intention to do so.

Vaishnaw’s remarks come a day after news agency Reuters broke the news that a group of 21 news publishers – including those owned by billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani – have challenged the controversial law in the Supreme Court.

“The journalistic freedom is guaranteed by the Constitution. That freedom is absolutely available. There is not even an intention to affect the journalistic freedom,” Vaishnaw said, adding that editors and media professionals were welcome to enter an open dialogues with the government about the law, the Hindu reported.

Publishers allege that the contentious data privacy law will allow the government to identify journalists’ sources and defang investigative work entirely. The law is an invasion of press freedom,........

© The Wire