NEW DELHI: Around eighty stakeholders attended the fourth open house on media ownership held today at Bhubaneswar, with a large number of local multi-system operators (MSOs) and cable operators complaining that no time was given for persons from all over the state to come to the state capital to attend the meet.

However, officials of the telecom regulatory authority of India (Trai) claimed that a fruitful discussion was held on the subject under discussion. The meet was addressed on behalf of Trai by principal advisor N Parameswaran and advisor Rajkumar Upadhyay.

Parameswaran told indiantelevision.com that the gathering included around fifty LCOs who gave valuable suggestions.

With the open houses on media ownership getting disrupted by cable operators insisting their issues be take up and a large majority of participants feeling Indian media is run by a handful of large media house, Trai had planned two additional open houses before finalising its report.

The next open house will be held in Indore at the Ravindra Natya Griha. The earlier open houses were in Ahmedabad and Hyderabad dominated by cable operators, and in Delhi.

Asked about the short notice for the last two meets, a Trai official said that advertisements were placed in local newspapers in Odisha and Madhya Pradesh apart from the notice on the Trai website.

In the Delhi meet, Trai chairman Rahul Khullar - while disagreeing with a representative of a large media house who denied that just three or four media houses controlled the entire fourth estate - said "There is a large body of Indian citizens who feel that way. Wake up and smell the coffee."

All the earlier open houses have been held this month and the one on 18 May in Delhi was held amidst heavy police arrangements.

Trai had set 29 April as the last date for stakeholders to offer their cross-comments on a consultation paper on the subject. The paper had been issued on 15 February but the final date had been extended in view of the ?complexity of the issue?.

The paper among other issues has sought comments on devising ownership rules for vertical integration between broadcasting and distribution entities.

The paper will also devise rules/restrictions in case of mergers and acquisitions in the media sector, and media ownership rules within and across media segments.

Methodology to measure ownership or control of an entity over a media outlet, identification of genres to be considered while framing media ownership rules, and prescribing norms for mandatory disclosures by media entities are some other issues.

Trai has also discussed in its paper issues relating to identification of media segments wherein media ownership rules are to be prescribed, and identification of relevant markets for evaluating various parameters to be used for devising ownership rules and the methodology for measuring these parameters.

At the outset, Trai - which had issued a paper on the same issue some years earlier - said the paper had been issued at the request of the I&B ministry earlier last year following a report of the Administrative Staff College of India, in Hyderabad.

Trai said that it was felt that reasonable restrictions may need to be put in place on ownership in the media sector, to ensure media pluralism and to counter the ills of monopolies. It pointed out that such restrictions do exist in many international markets.

NEW DELHI: Raking up another controversy, Press Council of India chairperson Justice Markandey Katju has set up a committee to recommend minimum qualification required to become a journalist.

Suggesting that absence of a proper eligibility criterion was affecting the quality of reportage in the country, Katju had set up a committee comprising PCI members Shravan Garg, Rajeev Sabade and Dr Ujjwala Barve, Associate Professor, Department of Communication and Journalism, University of Pune.

In a statement, the Delhi Union of Journalists described the view as ?a regressive measure with a potential of making the profession restrictive and consequently undemocratic.? The Union said this will not only impact the coverage of news and views which will obviously reflect the bias of the privileged to the detriment of masses at large, but also bar the many not formally educated but talented persons from entering the profession, of whom there are scores of instances of rising to the top.

Delhi Union of Journalists further stated: "ironically, the idea defeats the very purpose of the existence of the Press Council which is to ensure freedom of expression and growth of the press and curb all restrictive practices."

Katju said in a statement that the need for a qualification for entry into the profession of journalism had been felt for some time. "In the lawyers profession, an LLB Degree as well as registration in a Bar Council is required. Similarly, for entry into the medical profession the necessary qualification is an MBBS Degree and also registration with the Medical Council," Katju said.

He added that for becoming a teacher, a teacher?s training certificate or degree is required so was the case with other professions. Katju said that, however, at present there is no qualification for entry into the profession of journalism

"Hence very often persons with little or inadequate training in journalism enter the profession, and this often leads to negative effects, because such untrained persons often do not maintain high standards of journalism," he said.

For quite some time, therefore, it has been felt that there must be some legal qualification before one can enter the profession of journalism, Katju said.

He said the media has an important influence on the lives of the people and the time has now come when some qualification should be prescribed by law.

Katju said that the team appointed by him will consider all aspects and submit a report at an early date suggesting the qualifications a person should have before he can be allowed to enter the profession of journalism.