Media & Self Regulation professorsridhar@gmail.com
Statutory body to regulate media In April 2013, the Delhi High Court--in a case prompted by reality television, rejected the idea of self-regulation and recommended the central government form a statutory body to regulate the electronic media. "Absence of state intervention on its own is no guarantee of a rich media environment," a bench headed by Justice Pradeep Nandrajog said.
Attempt to Bring a Bill MP Meenakshi Natarajan tried to introduce the Print and Electronic Media Standards and Regulation Bill, 2012, which would have given the government sweeping powers over the media, including ability to ban or suspend coverage of an event in the interest of national security. The bill would have also created a regulatory body largely appointed by the government. Natarajan's bill has been shelved in response to a media outcry.
Need Minister of Information and Broadcasting Manish Tewari and heads of three regulatory institutions - Justice Markandey Katju of the Press Council of India, Justice AP Shah of the Broadcasting Content Complaints Council, and Justice RV Raveendran of the News Broadcasting Standards Association - tentatively agreed on the need for 'statutory, mandatory self-regulation' of the media.
Yes & no to self regulation The Indian media industry itself has been unequivocal in stating that it is capable of self regulation. However, the heads of the currently regulatory bodies pointed out that despite the current system of self regulation, many channels simply opt out of voluntary membership of these associations if they do not want to follows its rules or pay fines.
1. Paid news Paid news, or 'advertorial' is when individuals, businesses or political parties are given favourable coverage in return for cash or payment in the form of advertising revenue. The Press Council defines it as 'any news or analysis appearing in any media (print or electronic) for a price in cash or kind as consideration'.
Plus Extortion the parliamentary panel that reported in May noted that 'advertising masquerading as news' is not restricted to elections, but is used for marketing products, individuals and organisations. In November last year, Delhi police arrested two editors of the Zee television group, who were accused by Congress MP Naveen Jindal of trying to extort Rs 100 crore in advertising revenue in return for dropping negative stories about his businesses.
Reverse sting it was through a free press that Naveen Jindal was able to expose the allegedly corrupt editors, though the kind of 'reverse sting operation' that might fall foul of a tough regulator.
2. Cross Media Ownership A second controversial issue in the Indian media is so-called 'cross holding', whereby the same corporate entity owns or part-owns newspapers, TV stations, web media etc. For example, Sun TV, the Essel Group and Star India are three media houses with a presence in print, FM radio, and satellite and cable TV. Critics fear this threatens the diversity and independence of the media, making them subordinate to corporate interests.
Why regulation? Opposing regulation in this field, First Post Assistant Editor Sindhu Battacharya points out that there is nothing to stop politicians from owning newspapers and TV stations, and asks why corporate houses alone should be prevented from using media to further their interests.
Enough diversity! Moreover, with 86,754 registered print publications and over 800 private satellite TV channels in India, he insists there is no lack of diversity in the media, and consumers are free to consume whichever they trust most.
Convergence Arindam Sen Gupta of The Times of India adds that the convergence of different media through the internet makes cross-media curbs pointless, and argues that rather than tightening regulation, the government should relax it to help traditional media compete with less reliable 'news' on blogs and social media.
Phone hacking scandal In 2011 in UK, a scandal involving journalists hacking into the phones of celebrities, public figures and other members of the public, including a missing schoolgirl led to fresh debate of regulation.
Leveson Regulation reforms Justice Leveson enquiry was to look at the 'culture, practices and ethics' of the press, and to suggest regulations to deal with abuses including, but not limited to, phone hacking. Its proposals are now being debated as some are arguing regulation is necessary to clean up Britain's salacious tabloids and Critics are insisting unelected bodies have no business deciding what the public should be allowed to read and watch.
Katju supports Leveson Supporting this, Justice Markandey Katju of the Press Council of India, who believes it is desirable not only to deal with abuses like paid news, but to force the Indian press to live up to its responsibility to fight backward ideas and promote enlightenment.
Apprehensions According to Chief Justice Sathasivam, the attempt to impose such a responsibility, especially through an external regulatory authority would be a perilous departure from the principle of a free press. The Hindustan's Times' UK correspondent Dipankar De Sarka argues that even if the British press is insufficiently regulated, the problem in India is the reverse excessive state control both through formal laws and informal bullying of journalists and bloggers.
Complaints The BCCC has received 10,983 complaints till date, and addressed 1,263 specific complaints. Justice Shah said a High Court judgment had opened up the room for the BCCC to look into a complaint regarding channels which were not members of the industry body. He suggested a statutory creation of a selfregulatory body, with appointments made by an independent mechanism as a viable model. There must also be an appellate forum for grievances.
Controls NBSA chair Justice Raveendran expressed concern about the government s tendency to convert any regulation into control. Katju said an independent statutory regulatory body with power to punish was essential. In a bid to assure the media, he added that such a body could have 90 per cent media representatives. In the PCI too, 20 out of the 28 members are media representatives. This would be a review by peers. Why are you afraid of yourself?
Karl Marx says Karl Marx, 'you cannot enjoy the advantages of a free press without putting up with its inconveniences. You cannot pluck the rose without its thorns!
Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin a senior Journalist and Media educator noted in 1729 We love the handsome, we applaud the learned, and we fear the rich and powerful, but we worship and adore the virtuous The attainment of virtuous conduct is an ancient concern for journalists as ethical dilemmas have plagued the profession since Franklin s days.
Pulitzer says Joseph Pulitzer (Vidura, 2005) rightly pointed out that without high ethical ideals, a newspaper not only is stripped of its splendid possibilities for public service, but many become a positive danger to the community.
News Hole concept The New York Times may be the world s greatest news paper, it has the concept of News Hole. That means they first lay out where the advertisement is going to be, in the afternoon when they plan for the following day s news paper. Then put the news in the gaps between the advertisements. The reason is detriments are an important part of a newspaper.
Kant & Gandhi Immanuel Kant s Philosophy says that any lie from any reason, however noble, is immorality and destroys a person s dignity. A Journalists job is to report facts even though they may be inconvenient to some. Mahatma Gandhi emphasized the need for truth in expression When the truth is greater than the Sun, some day or other it will come to light.
Radia tapes & ethics The taped conversation between Nira Radia, Mukesh Ambani and Ratan Tata with interest of ministerial portfolios raises questions the boundary between legitimate news gathering, lobbying and influence peddling. About 104 phone conversations recorded between May and June 2009
Who uses whom? Vinod Meheta, said that journalists are supposed to use sources, sources cannot use journalists (Hindu 4th Dec, 2010). Kuldip Nayar: Majority of people trust the journalists more than the police, politician, and lawyers and believe that they could articulate their grievances. Press is called the Fourth Estate because it is one of the strongest pillars on which the democratic edifice rests
ASCI Model Through an amendment to the Cable TV Network Act, the Advertising Standards Council of India was granted legal powers regarding ad content in the broadcasting space. Its Consumer Complaints Council with 14 members, including eight from civil society and six from the industry can tell a channel to modify or withdraw an ad, and in case a channel does not obey, the I&B Ministry can take stringent action.
What to do? While some dominant voices such as Katju s believed that media persons are best suited to regulate their peers, others felt this structure only hurts the regulators credibility. Katju also suggested that there be only one body to regulate all media, unlike the current system. Others backed a statutory self-regulating body to replace the current system.
Consensus A few essential points emerged as consensus the regulator should have a real power to punish and fine; adopt global standards; enforce universal membership. There was also a call to the industry to not hide behind a faulty ratings system as an excuse to broadcast lower quality content.
Not government control The ministry has publicly said it would prefer a model of self-regulation rather than have the government step in. In the end, there was a call for editors and owners of media houses not to confuse their duties to the citizens and shareholders.
Consumer & Citizen 1 In a study Representing Citizens and Consumers in Media and Communication Regulation (published in the May 2007 issue of Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science) Sonia Livingstone and Peter Lunt categorise the interests of the consumer and the citizen as separate from each another.
Consumer & Citizen 2 The consumer focus is on the economic, that of the citizen on the cultural ; the consumer is concerned about the networking and allied services, the citizen s concern is programming content. The consumer evokes the individual, the citizen the community.
Consumer & citizen 3 They elaborate this division in a further psychosociological checklist, which describes inter alia (i) the interest of the consumer in terms of wants, that of the citizen in terms of needs ; (ii) the consumer as representing private benefit and the citizen, public benefit ; (iii) the consumer s as being a language of choice, the citizen s a language of rights ;
Consumer & Citizen 4 (iv) the focus of or for the consumer tending to be short term, that of or for the citizen, long term ; (v) regulation on behalf of the consumer becoming an action against a detriment and that on behalf of the citizen, one in the public interest ; (vi) the consumer s interest, in the market model of the media, as likely to rollback regulation, whereas continued regulation to correct market failure may be what is in the citizen s interest.
Leveson s Recommendation Leveson says, essential that there should be legislation to underpin the independent selfregulatory system and facilitate its recognition in legal processes, but hastens to add that such legislation will not establish any body to regulate the press, nor give parliament or government any right to prevent newspapers publishing any material.
Not state but self regulation It is not, and cannot be characterised as, statutory regulation of the press. It is, on the other hand, independent regulation of the press organised by the press, with a statutory verification process to ensure that the required levels of independence and effectiveness are met by the system.