Broadbandindia Magazine

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) in India is examining the draft Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill aimed to regulate digital content. If the bill is passed, the Indian government can direct a service provider to stop broadcasting or ask it to transmit in a manner that it suggests. The draft Bill proposes to set up an independent Broadcasting Regulatory Authority of India whose main functions will be to regulate and monitor content.

The draft Bill allows the Centre to prescribe guidelines and norms to evaluate and certify content. If the Bill is passed, the Government can “under exceptional circumstances” direct a service provider to stop broadcasting or ask it to transmit in a manner that it suggests. It also proposes “Authorized Officers” who will have the power to inspect, search and seize equipment of offending broadcasters.

The proposed Bill also allows the Government to prescribe eligibility conditions to restrict accumulation of interest or monopolies either across media segments or within geographical regions, at national or state level. Sources said no decision had been taken yet on whether the Codes including the one drawn up by the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) would be amalgamated.

At the time of promulgation of Prasar Bharati Act, the then government had promised a comprehensive Broadcast Bill. Thereafter, the successive government had set up a Group of Ministers to study a Convergence Bill and a Convergence Commission but was unable to arrive at a consensus.

What is the Broadcasting Bill?

While the need for a Broadcasting Bill has been talked about since 1997, it was only in 2006 that the UPA Government with previous I & B Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi as the Union Information & Broadcasting Minister brought out the draft for the Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill. The Bill, said the I&B Ministry, will  regulate the broadcast services with several private TV channels.

The draft bill, which calls for the setting up of a separate Broadcast Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI), has covered four major areas in its ambit, which would call for major corporate restructuring by media companies—foreign and domestic— operating in India. Along with the draft broadcasting Bill, the Ministry has also formulated a content code to regulate the programme “quality” being aired by broadcasters and to “protect the consumers interests”, national interests and right to privacy.

So what regulations govern TV services as of now?

Now Cable Television Networks Regulation Act, 1995 is the basic governing system for all TV channels related issues. However, the Ministry has been of the view  for years now that the increase in the number of TV channels requires a special set of laws in keeping with the times and with provision for a regulatory mechanism.

Previous Bill Rejected

The Editors Guild of India has rejected the previous Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill in its present form on the premise that it would give the government “enormous con- trol and clout over news and current affairs channels.” Appreciating the need for responsible reporting, the Guild in a statement issued said: “While media’s hands should not be tied behind its back by an oppressive legislative framework, the media must evolve and adhere to higher norms of responsibility and public decency.” According to the Guild, the provisions of the Bill were such that it could be misused by the government. Calling for a wide-ranging national debate on the issue, it said the proposed Broadcasting Regulatory Authority of India was nothing but a government body as the media had no say in the selection of its members.

As such, the suggested framework of BRAI was unacceptable to the Guild. Another proposal that the Guild found unacceptable was the Public Service Broadcast  Council which would dictate the public service content on news and current affairs channels. The proposed Council, it is feared, could become a channel for the government to introduce its own programming through the backdoor. Also the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) called for broader consultation on the previous Broadcast Bill. It has expressed deep reservations about the “Self-Regulation Guidelines for the Broadcasting Sector” as this “content code” will have serious implications for journalism. In its memorandum, the IFJ — taking note of earlier attempts at introducing a regulatory mechanism — said the Indian government was unlikely to get far with the Bill if it “continues to use the approval of the broadcast industry as the touchstone for assessing the worth of any legislation.” About the proposed content code, the IFJ said the remedy for damage or injustice resulting from the news and current affairs content on television “lies not in constraining the right to free speech, but in allowing it greater latitude;” particularly in a country where there were several avenues for redress and judicial remedy.

Fresh Look

Information and Broadcasting Ministry agreed to take a “fresh look” at the proposed Broadcasting Bill draft and the content code planned as a regulating measure  for the booming broadcasting industry in the country. The minister agreed to take a re-look at the whole draft of the Broadcasting Bill to address the concerns  raised by representatives of the broadcasting industry, which has been protesting against the proposed clauses of the Bill. A Committee headed by Information and Broadcasting Ministry Secretary Raghu Menon is to hold discussions with various stakeholders to give a final shape to the long-pending Broadcast Services Regulation Bill 2006 so that it can be introduced in Parliament as early as possible.

The Bill, drafted in 2006 and available on the Ministry’s website, also provides for a Broadcast Regulatory Authority of India, which is expected to be an  improvement over the Broadcasting Council envisaged in the Prasar Bharati Act 1990 (promulgated in 1997) which was never constituted. “The proposed regulator will be empowered to issue regulations regarding the places, types and quantity of equipment to be provided by the service-providers free of cost, for monitoring of content and the manner in which such monitoring may be carried out by the licensing authorities or authorized officers under the Bill,” said the Minister. Subsequently, the United Progressive Alliance Government drafted the present Bill and then I&B Secretary Asha Swarup had begun a review of the draft Bill in view of exchanges with the stakeholders.

All states being consulted

A broadcast bill that aims at monitoring and regulating the content of the electronic media is being examined in consultation with state governments. The issue came into sharp focus after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks when the government felt that the 24/7 competitive coverage of the carnage by TV channels had compromised national security by giving away to the attackers details of the movement of the security forces and of the civilians trapped in Mumbai’s Taj Hotel.’I feel the matter should be debated among the media and the government at every level, especially when the draft bill is already in the public domain, but it is not on top of my priority,’ Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni had said in a recent interview.

Doordarshan not to be spared

Government to ensure that all provisions of the proposed Broadcasting Bill are applied to Prasar Bharti and Doordarshan. In a communication to the Government, the Group, which is an umbrella society representing Indian companies in television broadcasting, radio and print media sectors, has pointed out that this was essential as Doordarshan was competing with other channels like any other commercial broadcasting organization. “The provision of granting exemption to the    public broadcaster is liable for misuse and discrimination. This is clearly evident from a recent incident where the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued show-cause notice to various broadcasters for airing advertisements content in violation of the prescribed advertisement code. While almost all the private sector broadcasters were served the notice, Doordarshan was spared even though it carried the same advertisement content,” the communication points out.

Wrapping up

The big issue is the Government’s “intention” to control or regulate programme content. The industry feels that the Government plans to infringe on their rights as a free media through the two proposed regulations and says that “draconian” laws will be applied, especially against news channels, under the ambit of the Bill if it is allowed to go through. A stringent Content Code and clauses like “national interest” and right to privacy of a citizen may spell the death knell for investigative journalism and sting operations for broadcasters. The other problem with the Bill is that in an age when citizens are bombarded with news/views through various media (newspapers, cable and satellite TV, Internet, radio and mobile phones), it seeks to enforce outdated concepts of the media and dominance as per broadcasters. The draft Bill, they point out, says that no broadcasting service provider can own more than 20% of another broadcasting network service provider. BRAI is also liable to government control, say broadcasters.