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 publishers have contended in their petition filed in the top court.The lawsuit is being deemed as the most high-profile challenge to the Modi government’s data protection law so far. Another striking aspect of the lawsuit is that it is being supported by outlets owned by Adani and Ambani – businessmen deemed close to the Modi government and the ruling saffron party.Also read: ‘Unchecked Powers to Govt, New Barriers to Transparency’: IFF on Digital Personal Data Protection ActThe publishers in their petition have demanded that most of the provisions of the controversial law, which will come into effect from May 2027, should be struck off.Vaishnaw, however, maintained that the privacy law “absolutely maintains, fully maintains the journalistic freedom, the Constitution guarantees”, adding that it was aimed at protecting personal data without undermining media freedom, according to the Hindu.Citing an anonymous government source, the paper reported that the government was open to amending the law to expressly safeguard the freedom of the press and that any confusion surrounding the law could be addressed in the parliament.“If hardcoding is required, we can hardcode it; it only requires an amendment… There is no problem in that because our intent is clear,” the Hindu cited the anonymous source as saying. Supreme court petitionJournalists fear that the new law could force them to get consent from an individual they wish to investigate, which “would allow that subject to destroy evidence, intimidate witnesses”, the petition accessed by Reuters said. The law could also empower the government to demand information that could expose reporters’ sources, the report said, adding that the law would “render investigative journalism a benign and neutered recorder of events”.The provisions “constitute pre-censorship which is anathema to any democracy worth its name”, the 698-page petition said.Digital News Publishers Association told Reuters that the government could impose fines for non-compliance and block access to any information in the “interests of the general public”.Citing another provision of the law which allows individuals to revoke consent at any time and demand their data be deleted, the publishers flagged that the lack of a public-interest safeguard in such cases could result in publishers being forced to take down or redact a heavily factual report.The petition comes at a time when India’s press freedom is reeling under pressure from the Modi government. The authoritarian excesses were on display only recently, when journalists covering protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar were detained, dragged and shoved into buses despite having clear identification on them. The government has also conveniently rejected India’s ranking on The World Press Freedom Index, which fell to 157 out of 180 from 140 in 2014, saying that it did not need the validation of foreign bodies, the report said.