In other news, taking on Press Council Chairman Justice Markandeya Katju for "running down" self-regulatory mechanisms in media, the South Asia Media Commission today expressed concern over suggestions for arming the government with "draconian" powers to deal with the press. 

The Commission, an associate of South Asian Free Media Association, appealed to the media community to expedite steps to give a shape to a self-regulatory mechanism which it felt will lend credibility to the plans of the media to reform its affairs itself.