TV channels flay govt for change of rule regarding license renewal

Channels have to renew their licenses after every ten years.

Government sources,however,downplayed the BEA concerns claiming there were provisions in existing laws under which action could be taken against channels even for a single violation.

Reacting sharply to the cabinet decision,the BEA said “that across all democratic nations,governments have no role in issues pertaining to content. The Indian constitution clearly restricts the government from assuming any such role.”

The BEA demanded in a press release that the government immediately roll back the new norms.

“With new norms,government is trying to control an otherwise independent electronic media by sending a subtle message that their permission to uplink can be withdrawn should they not ‘behave¿,” the BEA claimed.

Can content be left to the wisdom of the bureaucrats in a democracy?¿ the BEA said in its press release.

The “net result of the new norms would be that an officer of the government can question an individual channel on content for four times on one pretext or the other and finally threaten that channel of non-renewal,should it not fall in line”,it said.