TUWJ women journalists seek stronger safety, welfare provisions in accreditation rules

Hyderabad: The Women Working Journalists Welfare Committee of the Telangana Union of Working Journalists (TUWJ) on Wednesday urged the state government to include stronger safety and welfare provisions in the proposed women journalists accreditation rules.

During a meeting with Information and Public Relations (I&PR) Special Commissioner C.H. Priyanka, the delegation highlighted several concerns related to the Government Order issued on December 22, 2025. They pointed out that the proposed Telangana Media Accreditation Rules failed to explicitly retain the existing reservation for women journalists or address gender-specific challenges.

Call for POSH compliance and safe working conditions

Members of the delegation Kalyanam Rajeswari, Manjula Vaka, Prathibha, Yashoda, and Surya Kumari noted that female journalists often face unsafe conditions during night shifts and lack adequate transport support. They also cited weak implementation of the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) Act in media organisations and insufficient health safeguards.

The committee demanded retention of the reservation quota for women in the accreditation process and special provisions for those working on editorial and feature desks. It also called for mandatory POSH compliance, linkage of accreditation to gender-sensitive policies, and greater female representation in media-related statutory bodies.

The delegation informed the Special Commissioner that they had previously raised these issues with Telangana Media Academy Chairman K. Sreenivas Reddy and expressed hope for a safer and fairer media work environment under the new policy framework.