ITV

Tag: Content Code

  • Content code draft submitted to NBA

    NEW DELHI: The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) has received the draft code of conduct from the member who had been entrusted with the job, and are going to take legal counsel on the issue soon, sources said.

    Times Now editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami sent the draft code to the NBA yesterday, and after the process of legal opinion taking is over, the draft would be sent to all the members of the association for their study and a discussion to finalise the Code some time later, and there has been no deadline fixed for that so far.

    Sources however said that the NBA would not push the deadline too far, as it is keen to submit the code to the I&B ministry.

    The real problem is getting most of the other channels not based in Delhi or Mumbai to give their inputs, as the NBA leadership would like to broaden the base of the organisation as well as support for the draft code of content, so that the government is not able to dismiss it as the will of a handful of journalists.

    “There is need to make this a national consensus, and hopefully we shall be able to do that, as we are keen on this,” a source in the news TV industry told Indiantelevision.com.

    The code is a response to the ministry wanting to foist a code of conduct on the news channels, which the latter have slammed as an infringement of the right to freedom of speech and expression.

    In fact, the government had promised to redraft the original code it had issued for consultation, and said it would keep a minimalist approach.

    Despite that, in a meeting with the minister last month, the news broadcasters had refused to have anything to do with a government created code.

    The key aspects of the code drafted by the NBA – though no details are being divulged about the actual content – are sting operations, privacy, decency and measures to be taken against an errant channel.

    Issues as to how far is too far, and what to do with a situation like the one in which a news channel repeatedly aired the footage of a former film starlet bathing in the nude inside a jail bathroom, will be central to the concerns of the NBA code, as it had told the government that the industry was mature enough, just a few days before this scene was aired on TV.

    “We have the concerns of the government relating to cultural values in mind, as the government is as Indian as we are and share the same values, but we want only self-governance, not government gagging of the media,” a senior editor told Indiantelevision.com.

    Meanwhile the entire issue of Broadcast Bill and hence the government drafted code has been put on the back burner, seemingly for an indefinite time, as the PMO does not want the media upset to the extent it had become, especially with some critical elections coming round the corner.

  • Make discussion on Broadcast Bill more inclusive: IFJ

    NEW DELHI: The International Federation of Journalists has urged the Indian government to hold more inclusive consultations and recognise the legitimate interests of journalists in the process of the proposed Broadcast Services Regulation Bill and the Content Code.

    This was stated in a memorandum submitted with the endorsement of the National Union of Journalists (India) an IFJ affiliate, and two local unions from Mumbai and Delhi.

    “We understand that the most recent draft of the Broadcast Bill that has been circulated for public debate is the fourth in a decade”, said IFJ Asia Pacific Director Jacqueline Park. “That its future is still uncertain, speaks of a failure of consensus-building around the purported aims of broadcast law reform”.

    The IFJ has been advised by affiliates and other like-minded organisations in India that the Broadcast Services Regulation Bill in its most recent version is not dissimilar to a draft that was introduced, discussed and abandoned last year. The only respect in which the current legislative proposals differ from those of 2006 is in the introduction of a set of “guidelines” for broadcasters, or a “content code”.

    “While we can appreciate a regulatory regime that seeks to curtail cross-media ownership and ensure that the broadcast spectrum is preserved as a public resource, we do not see the utility of regulating content,” said Park.

    The IFJ has learnt through its affiliates that the Indian Penal Code as it now exists is adequate to deal with instances of gross abuse of media autonomy. Competent legal opinion has held that there is no basis for the prior restraint of the right to free speech, since the punitive powers available are sufficient to sanction all offences post facto.

    “In the circumstances,” said Park, “the purpose of broadcast law reform should be little less than to give effect to the historic judgment of the Indian Supreme Court, that the airwaves are a public resource, which should be allocated in accordance with a broad definition of public interest.”

    The IFJ, in consultation with affiliated unions and other civil society groups, would like to urge the Indian government to broaden its consultations and to explicitly grant the demand of the professional community of journalists, to be heard in the process of broadcast law reform.