In a submission to the I&B Ministry, the Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI) raised considerations over the proposed Broadcasting Bill with its potential to manage and overregulate broadcast and digital media. NWMI identified that the Bill may drastically alter the media panorama in India and exhorted the federal government to chorus from going forward with it with out exhaustive consultations with all stake-holders.

The Broadcasting Bill which seeks to switch the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act of 1995, goals to supply a complete regulatory regime for all types of broadcasting content material from tv to streaming platforms. In its letter to the Ministry, the NWMI identified that the federal government bestows inordinate powers on itself via this Bill to manage the nation’s leisure and information media.

“This intent to control and over-regulate is not in the interests of a healthy, independent media or a thriving culture of entertainment. It goes against the very foundations of media freedom in mature democracies everywhere and will irreparably damage the free press, free speech and creative freedom in India,” acknowledged the NWMI.

With the Bill possessing potential to drastically alter the media panorama in India, NWMI has exhorted the federal government to not, below any circumstances, proceed with it with out exhaustive discussions among the many key stake-holders concerned. Considering its far-reaching implications, NWMI stated the haste with which the Bill has been drafted and introduced to the general public, and the restricted time offered for responses, is unacceptable.

In its clause-by-clause evaluation submitted to the federal government, the NWMI has flagged a number of considerations which can be summarised under:

(1) The draft Bill’s vaguely worded provisions, together with its definition of “news and current affairs programmes”, arm it with the potential to cowl particular person Youtubers, the social media accounts {of professional} journalists and even citizen journalists.

(2) The Bill locations necessities and burdens on information organisations that, whereas cumbersome for giant broadcasting networks, may probably put small information operators out of enterprise.

(3) The Broadcasting Bill mentions a Programme Code and an Advertising Code “as may be prescribed”. Any public session on the Bill is meaningless except the federal government publishes an overview of the proposed codes and seeks suggestions on these codes too.

(4) In the absence of clearly outlined codes accessible together with the draft Bill, the publication of the draft Bill in itself could have a chilling impact on creators of leisure and information content material who will likely be pushed, if not by their very own fears and prevailing uncertainty, then by the administration of their organisations, to keep away from risk-taking in any respect prices.

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(5) The Bill exhibits a lack of awareness not simply of what constitutes information, but additionally of the functioning of stories organisations when it seeks to membership them with creators of leisure content material, particularly contemplating the supply to topic the work of newspersons to Content Evaluation Committees (CECs).

(6) The Bill lays out a system of “self-certification” by CECs which can be to be constituted by all broadcasters and broadcasting networks in accordance with the provisions of the Bill. However, the time period “self-certification” is a misnomer because the Bill provides the Central Government an overriding position within the formation of CECs and quantities to the federal government working editorial panels to observe content material being generated by broadcasters.

(7) The Bill locations unreasonable curbs on information and leisure organisations that can inevitably hamper their performing at a really basic stage and, particularly, make it financially unviable for small, unbiased information set-ups to function.

(8) In the context of OTT platforms, CECs look set to imitate the functioning of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC, recognized in standard parlance because the Censor Board), a statutory physique that has been criticised and opposed by generations of Indian filmmakers. Among different issues, bringing OTTs below such CBFC-like our bodies defies the spirit of the advice of the Committee of Experts constituted by this authorities and chaired by the famend filmmaker Shyam Benegal, that had referred to as for a extra liberalised certification system even for movies.

(9) The Central Government’s overarching position within the functioning of stories and leisure media as per the provisions of this Bill is additional enhanced by the requirement for the formation of a Broadcast Advisory Council, the composition of which can primarily be decided by the Central Government.

About NWMI

The Network of Women in Media, India is a collective that serves as a discussion board for girls and people who determine as girls in media professions to share data and assets, alternate concepts, promote media consciousness and ethics, and work for gender equality and justice inside the media and society. NWMI has members primarily based in nearly all Indian states and some in abroad areas, working in print, digital and digital media in a number of languages. NWMI is a voluntary, casual, non-hierarchical, participatory collective with no institutional affiliation, infrastructure or paid workers.