By IANS
New Delhi : The government has taken several steps to ensure that state-run media units were more transparent and user-friendly, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi said Thursday.
Addressing the Parliamentary Standing Committee attached to his ministry, Dasmunsi said a comprehensive review of policies pertaining to the functioning of the Publications Division, Registrar of Newspapers of India (RNI) and Director of Audio Visual Publicity (DAVP) was carried out recently "to smoothen operations and facilitate the media being catered to by them".
The minister said DAVP's new advertisement policy for print media has come out with measures to raise the share of small and medium newspapers in the advertising revenue routed through it.
He said the Policy for Empanelment of Audio-Video Producers and Policy for Empanelment of Electronic Media Channels have also been reviewed for better efficacy.
Appreciating these initiatives, members of the committee said more focus and support was needed for the medium and small newspapers and suggested that a deadline be fixed for release of advertisements by DAVP so that the newspapers in different parts of the country are facilitated in carrying the ads.
Some members suggested that the Publications Division should consider coming up with periodicals only for the youth.
The MPs who attended the meeting included Kirip Chaliha, S. Mallikarjunaiah, Hannan Mollah, S. Sudhakar Reddy, Ramdas Athawale, Shatrughan Sinha, S.S. Chandran, Balwant alias Bal Apte, S.P. Singh Baghel, Usha Verma and Nirmala Deshpande.