Media regulator seeks to change editor rules

The Maldives Media Council wants to relax government regulations about who can be an editor, as a deadline looms for news outlets to meet the new guidelines.

A Home Ministry regulation gazetted in January imposes new criteria that editors at registered media outlets have to meet.

Editors need to be Maldivian, aged 25 and above, have a degree in journalism or a related field as well as five years experience at a ministry-registered media organisation.

The Maldives Media Council on Thursday lodged a case with the attorney general’s office to have the case heard in court to change the new criteria, VFP reported.

Media outlets have expressed concern about the new regulations.

“This is a great concern, especially for papers at community level or at atoll level,” the editor of AdduLive told the Maldives Independent. “It would be difficult to find an editor, even at a national level, there are very few people who have degrees in journalism. All of our hopes for this newspaper are gone.”

The overall education status of the population at graduate level is very low, according to official figures. The 2014 census said that just 483 people had a degree.