NEW DELHI: The much delayed Content Code may get a push with the. government slated to hold a meeting with private broadcasters on this next week.
"I am holding a meeting next week and then we will decide," information and broadcasting minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi said on the sidelines of a book release function.
Dasmunsi said the government needed to study the proposal by the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) about formation of the 'News Broadcasting Standards (Disputes Redressal) Authority' to enforce NBA's code of ethics and broadcasting standards with effect from 2 October. He refused to make any comment on the proposal aimed at self-regulation.
Answering a question, Dasmunsi said the recommendations of Trai on self-regulation by television channels of TV viewership ratings were being studied by the government. However, he said ‘no’ when a mediaperson sought to know whether regulation of content would be given to Trai.
The minister was speaking to the media on the sidelines of a function at which he released two books on revolutionaries and freedom fighters - Khudiram Bose: Revolutionary Extraordinaire (English) written by Dr. Hitendra Patel And Ajeya Krantikari: Rajguru (Hindi) by Anil Verma – which have been published by the Publications Division of the ministry.
Answering another question after the function, Dasmunsi also turned down any proposal to permit private FM channels to broadcast news bulletins, despite a recommendation to that effect by Trai and Ficci.
Meanwhile, he said in reply to a question that he would talk to Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra about the reported attack by Jammu police on two photojournalists of Amar Ujala and JK Channel last night while they were covering the police brutality on Amarnath Sangarsh Samiti activists who were sitting on a dharna along with the body of Kuldeep Dogra who committed suicide yesterday. He said the ministry would make its own inquiry into the incident.
Apart from the minister, others present included I & B Secretary Sushma Singh, Debasis Roy (grand nephew of Khudiram Bose) and Satyasheel Rajguru (nephew of Rajguru).
Publications Division Director Veena Jain said that the recently-launched website of Employment News published by the Division was getting around 300,000 hits everyday. In addition, the popular children’s journal ‘Bal Bharati’ had the largest circulation among children’s journal category and the monthly magazine ‘Yojana’ is the only journal to be published in India in 13 languages.
