Broadcast regulation bill soon, will not gag media: Minister

By IANS

New Delhi : Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi Monday said he will try to introduce the Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill by the end of the monsoon session of parliament but assured it will "not gag the media".


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While talking to the students at the 40th convocation of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) here, the minister said that he has been extensively studying the media laws of the United States, Britain and Germany, besides other countries, over the past two weeks and is planning to put them up on the ministry's website for the Indian media to decide "where we stand".

"We will try to introduce the Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill by the end of the monsoon session for a comprehensive law," Dasmunsi said.

Rajdeep Sardesai, editor-in-chief of CNN-IBN news channel who was the chief guest at the occasion, said had he been asked two years back about the bill, he would have said that media ought be self-regulatory.

"Today, however, I am not sure," Sardesai said in the auditorium filled with eager students. "There are so many news channels, while competition is healthy it is changing a lot of dynamics. For instance, the concept of 'Breaking News' is breaking down.

"Hence while we do approve of the Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill, it should be (overseen by) an autonomous body and not another government body," he said.

The Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill, 2006, which proposes to regulate private broadcasting also provides for punishment like revocation of licence and fines on those who violate the proposed broadcast guidelines, including the new Content Code under preparation.

The proposed bill has generated intense debate with some contending that it is an insidious route to controlling the media while others have come out in its support, albeit on the ground that any content regulation should be self-regulatory and not left to the whims of bureaucrats.

The bill provides that the government may at any time direct the licensing authority, the Broadcasting Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI), to suspend or revoke a broadcaster's licence if the service is "considered prejudicial to friendly relations with a foreign country, public order, communal harmony or security of the state".

It provides for the setting up of the BRAI, which apart from a chairperson and six whole time members, would have a government official not less than the rank of additional secretary as its CEO/secretary.

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