What's new(s)? Govt 'kill Bill' set to muzzle media

GAGGING THE MEDIA? Panelists debate if the Bill will destroy the freedom of Press in India.

        

THE BROADCAST BILL

All TV and radio channels will be licensed.

Licenses can be revoked on non-compliance.

Sports signals will have to be shared with DD.

Government will contain cross-media.

On-air content to be minutely regulated.

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How Does One Define Control?

“Go to any part of the country and you will know that politicians have no credibility left. Bureaucrats are called corrupt all over the country. But does that mean we should destroy the political system and bureaucracy? I agree there are some channels which are very sensationalists in nature. But that does not mean you curb the freedom of expression. The Press is the Fourth Pillar of the democracy and if you demolish that, the democracy cannot function properly,” Ashutosh said.

“Now people have faith only in the judiciary and the Press. This move by the government is a conspiracy to derail democracy,” he added.

But Abishek Manu Singhvi felt the words used by the Ashutosh were “very strong” and said his reaction “with utmost respect and humility is hysterical, disproportionate and exaggerated”.

“Are you suggesting that by a regulatory mechanism, provided in a Bill yet to pass through four levels of scrutiny, you are going to amend Article 19 1(A) of the Constitution?” Singhvi asked.

“The very same ground of defamation, public order, contempt, incitement are all grounds for even limiting Article 19 1(A) of the Constitution. Nothing is new because you have had it for the last 50 years,” Singhvi added.

Courting Curtailment

Another clause of the content code says that - no civil court can have the jurisdiction to entertain any suit on the Broadcasting Licensing Authority. So that means that the Press can’t even go to court.

But Singhvi disagreed and said, “That’s totally wrong”.

It’s categorically mentioned in the code that there will be a content auditor who will report to the report to the chief editor. And if there is disagreement between the two, the chief editor will have to notify to the Central government. Also after everything that’s laid down in the code, there is a qualification - “unless it is warranted”. Who is to say whether it is warranted or not?

“This is not even a working draft and there are four more levels to go through. Today in anything that the judiciary or any other organ passes, there is no censorship,” Singhvi said.

“We want to send out a signal whenever you do irresponsible journalism, not of the normal kind. But of a kind which is not permitted by the boundaries of the journalism itself,” said Singhvi.

The AICC Spokesperson also said that they as the government have a sense of responsibility towards society. T

“There is no organ that is above the law and unfortunately the Press appears to think that normal regulatory mechanisms that every other organ or body should be submitted to, the Press is beyond them and above them. The Press is a holy cow which cannot be touched in society,” said Singhvi.