News channels take tough stance against Content Code, prefer self-regulation

NEW DELHI: Broadcasters, particularly those from the news channels, intend to use a panel discussion on Regulation in the Entertainment and the Media Sector on 23 July to vent their anger over the draft Content Code which they feel amounts to an indirect curb on independence of the media.

Representatives of various news channels contacted by Indiantelevision.com said that they had already conveyed their strong opposition to the Code on Friday and had hoped the Information and Broadcasting ministry would not put the Code on its website until it had heard their objections. However, since the ministry had given time till 5 August for the channels to react, a joint note would be sent to the ministry by the newscasters.

Meanwhile, the broadcasters said that as both I&B minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi and secretary Asha Swaroop would be present at the meet orgnised by FICCI, it would be a good opportunity to voice their grievance.

Commenting on the Content Code put up on the I&B website, IBN 7 managing editor Ashutosh said, "We said in the meeting yesterday that we do not feel there is any need for a regulator. We are sticking to this. There is no need to talk of the contents of the regulatory bill, as that would arise if we had prima facie agreed that there is any need for a regulator. We shall give our views and in a democratic set up, it is for the government to decide what it would do. If and when it decides to ignore the comments of the industry, we shall see what to do."

News channels felt that the Code would impeach on the media?s freedom of expression. Said Times Now editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami, "Journalism thrives on independence of views, perspective and right of interpretation. Many parts of the Code go against that. Indian TV and print media are mature enough to regulate itself. Whether one would fight a legal battle on grounds of the Code violating against our freedom of speech is speculative and one cannot go into that now."

A senior source in India TV told Indiantelevision.com that the ministry appeared to be in a hurry to gag the electronic media and said the aim could be to help the public broadcaster which was struggling to keep its head above water.

The source said that sting operations were never banned in any country and were seen as helping the law enforcing agencies. Clearly, the curbs were aimed at forcing channels to stop sting operations.

In any case, he said the channels were capable of self-regulation and the Code, therefore, should only have provided for this.

Janmat editor and CEO Sudhir Chaudhary agreed that there were several grey areas in the Content Code. "For the news channels, this is censorship by the backdoor. These rules look good only on paper, but will be difficult to implement uniformly across all the channels. Taking permission from various authorities to broadcast a show will be unnecessarily tedious as we are in a medium which works on quick reactions. "