Parliamentary panel calls for media watchdog

Move could assume significance given the pressure facing a government battling a series of corruption allegations
Move could assume significance given the pressure facing a government battling a series of corruption allegations
New Delhi: A parliamentary committee on Monday sought to make a case for controlling the media—both print and electronic—through a statutory regulator, a suggestion that could assume significance given the pressure facing a government battling a series of corruption allegations.
The standing committee on information technology called for such a regulator on grounds that the media had been silent over the menace of paid news and the inability of the ministry of information and broadcasting (I&B) to contain the practice through a suitable mechanism.
Paid news refers to the practice of disguising advertising as journalism, for instance at election time as a means of allowing politicians to keep their poll expenditure below the stipulated limit.
The committee also urged the I&B ministry and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to take “concerted, comprehensive and swift action" on cross-media ownership and frame rules to restrict cross-holdings in the media sector.
The action should be taken before the general election, which are due in 2014, “to prevent resurfacing of the hydra head of paid news", the committee said in a press release highlighting the main recommendations.
The report of the committee for the year ended March was presented in Parliament on Monday.
The committee observed that “paid news" or “advertising" masquerading as “news" is not restricted to elections, but is used for marketing products, individuals and organizations.
It maintained that the ministry had an important role in ensuring that news or information reaching people was factual and neutral. Since it had failed in curbing paid news during elections for a decade, it needed to come up with a solution on a priority basis, the panel said.
The 30-member standing committee is headed by Rao Inderjit Singh of the Congress party, which heads the ruling United Progressive Alliance coalition.
I&B minister Manish Tewari was carefully non-committal about the report’s findings.
The media industry disputed the observations made by the standing committee.
Man Jit Singh, chief executive officer (CEO) of Multi Screen Media Pvt. Ltd, the company that runs Sony Entertainment Television (SET), SET Max, Sony Pix and other channels, believes in self-regulation.
BCCC recommendations have always been fully complied with, he said.
Sunil Lulla, CEO and managing director of Times Global Broadcasting Ltd, which operates the Times Now and ET Now news channels, echoed this view.
“I strongly endorse self-regulation and I believe it will only get better," he said.
It concluded from this that the Press Council has no authority, only “ethical and moral force".
“Any recommendations which seek to exclude the media from a regulatory body will be resisted by journalists. Regulation cannot be by fiat, but must be based on independence and integrity of the regulator," said Rajdeep Sardesai, editor-in-chief of IBN18 Network, which runs the IBN7, CNN-IBN and IBN Lokmat channels.
Abhijit Pawar, managing director of the Sakal Media Group, in Pune said: “Whether media owners should be allowed to be the PCI (Press Council of India) member is not the question. The question is that there should be a body of members which maintains the sanctity of the institution and follows the processes and functions in a transparent manner. It is true that the entire paid news report was not annexed, but what is the guarantee that if there are non-media owners as members in PCI they cannot be influenced or bought?"
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