While no one in his right mind would really condone restrictions on the press or censorship, the stark fact is that self-regulation is just not working in India.
The electronic media has great reach and many Indians assume that what is reported on TV is the gospel truth.
But many channels glibly ignore the fact that some news items have ethical, moral, sociological and physiological dimensions, and at times, considering the reach of the electronic media and the credibility it inspires, one must exercise great prudence in both reporting and coverage. Sadly, such judgement is lacking, or is thrown out of the window for TRP ratings.
One has channels whose sole job is to track down family disputes and then show some person slamming the crap out of another. Some specialise in promoting Babas, some promote "bhoots", some espouse the cause of ancient "Kallaas" or holy remedies.
Some channels blatantly espouse the cause of one particular political party,or criticise it virulently.
Most anchors think that all the hot air that blows around the equator emanates from them. Hence, instead of an informed debate, many anchors start with a pre-conceived notion, and pre-emptorily cut-off those with a contrary view. Pray, why did you call that person in the first place? Just to improve the cosmetic value of the show?
One could argue that yes, we are an evolving democracy and advanced democracies took time to reach where they are today, and despite their regulation, one still sees instances of abuse. But the fact is that today, the rate of change is not linear but exponential - so, if were going not going to learn from their mistakes but are going to take our own sweet time to evolve our own standards, the abuse would only worsen problem.
I think its time the media introspected rather than take the high moral ground, preached democratic values to the rest of India, as also used democracy as an alibi to evade responsibility.
( Posted: Wednesday, August 15, 2007 at 23:50 )
I fully agree with you.This broadcasting bill is a must so that the press can have some control.
( Posted by nagu on )
Tarun Bhargava
The arrogance of the Congress to the fore again. To hoodwink people at large and to keep milking the system, the congress cannot have snoopy eyes around and hence this bill. This kind of arrogance in different forms have been seen in a multitude of ways - AP CM Land Scam, Saving their backsides inn Goa, Rajasthan Anti-conversion bill, Presidential Elections, and the Assam MP Subba - all point to a party in mental and idealogical decay but due to the deeply prevalent sycophant culture the party has to resort to all kinds of back door tricks to keep its future intact. Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Sighvi appear to be intelligent people but the moment they open their mouth to defend their party and its actions, the shoe fits in their mouth. Even Jairam Ramesh has been guilty of putting his shoe in his mouth on multiple occasions.
( Posted: Wednesday, August 08, 2007 at 10:34 )
Aam-admi
It appears that the congress party is going to repeat the history even before people have forgotten those dark days of 'emergency'!
( Posted: Tuesday , August 07, 2007 at 16:52 )
bindu
Sagarika You have guts lady. It was an experience to see you take the pants of Abhishek Manu Singhvi. He ofcourse has the advantage of summoning up greater calm and maturity and of calling your response and reactions, "premature, immature, jumping-the -gun, adjectivial and ill-informed" while he sat back and masked the hideousness behind the move...to gag and make sycophantic independent if not too bright journalists. Your anger and outage was palpable and i might suggest you try being a litle more controlled to avoid being summarily executed. Best of luck!
( Posted: Tuesday , August 07, 2007 at 14:53 )
Subbu
Thank god govt has come out with smthing like this bill ... media has become a mafia in a sense and especially the TV channels who would bring anybody to disrepute just to gain TRPs and popularity ... i am not even sure if this comment on my mine will be posted at all ... just to ensure that my comments are posted, CNN IBN is one of the better channels ... Arnob on times now is a "goonda" and they dont even accept their mistake ... all channels create these package programs ... show a bit of "jhatkas" and just say anything they want ... i sometime feel that the good ol' doordarshan was the best ... they used to provide news ... nowadays news channels "produce" and "create" news and share their own opinions ... of course, the production quality is far better than doordarshan ... there is no point speaking about hindi news channels as they are not news channels at all ... they must not be curbed ... they must be banned ... this goondaism in a way should b curbed by govt ... kudos to govt
( Posted: Tuesday , August 07, 2007 at 14:05 )
Yeah subbu...u r right....just 30 mts. of news session (15 mts. in the mrg and 15 in the nite) will keep the nation in peace....!!!
( Posted by Suresh on )
amit
Thieves will obviously object if somebody is trying to discovering them. Media kindly stop discovering thieves and they wont curb your independence.
Not that media is not biased, still some thing is better then nothing, hence with what ever bias media is discovering thieves, at least its discovering them.
( Posted: Tuesday , August 07, 2007 at 13:05 )
Neeta
Right! This is just an excuse for the Congress to take the nation backward... from India (trying to ) Shine(ing) to India in Murky Waters! I wonder why the Congress is so jobless!!!
( Posted: Tuesday , August 07, 2007 at 12:55 )
Debasish Pramanik
The moral of the story...POLITICIANS are above the law and anything illegal they do should not be exposed. The way don't be surprise when they bring a law against the Supreme Court which is now the only body who can threatened these POLITICIANS....
( Posted: Tuesday , August 07, 2007 at 12:54 )
g l sahni
"The AICC Spokesperson also said that they as the government have a sense of responsibility towards society." Your sense of responsibilty is well vissible in Delhi Govt Chole Gate.Have shame in using such responsible words for your govt.
( Posted: Tuesday , August 07, 2007 at 12:40 )
vkram
The Indian Constitution under Article 19 (1) (a) provides Protection of right regarding freedom of speech and expression, amongst various other rights. Article 32 guarantees constitutional remedies as follows:
“Remedies for enforcement of rights conferred by this Part. (1) The right to move the Supreme Court by appropriate proceedings for the enforcement of the rights conferred by this Part is guaranteed. “
And Article 19 (2) states
“ Nothing in sub-clause (a) of clause (1) shall affect the operation of any existing law, or prevent the State from making any law, in so far as such law imposes reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right conferred by the said sub-clause in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence.
The state/Parliament has the power to make law imposing “reasonable restriction” on this freedom of speech and expression.
What is “reasonable restriction” is open for interpretation always Is there any threat to the country/ What is the need for such a draconian law? There is every likelihood that Supreme Court may strike down this law as unconstitutional
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