Justifying his decision to appoint a panel on fixing minimum qualification for journlaists, Press Council Chairman Markandey Katju today said the aim was not to "muzzle" the media but to improve the standards as there are a lot of "mediocre" professionals in the field.

"There are a lot of mediocre journalists these days and the quality of journalism has fallen. So we have constituted a committee headed by Council member Shravan Kumar Garg to suggest minimum qualification for journalists in the changed circumstances," the PCI chairman said here.

Also, there are several specialisations in journalism and hence a minimum qualification is necessary, Katju said. Garg said the committe will also look into the quality of various journalism institutes in the country as at present there is "no control" on them.