Minister for Information and Broadcasting P R Dasmunsi will meet broadcasters on September 7 to discuss the Broadcasting Bill and Content Code. The meeting comes after two previous similar sessions that saw the Ministry and the broadcasters pitted against each other, thus preventing the Ministry from taking the Bill to Parliament this Monsoon Session. The Ministry may even soften its stand on the Content Code, which includes a controversial clause that requires the editor to report to the Government in case of a dispute with the Content Auditor. While Dasmunsi, who also holds charge of Parliamentary Affairs, has been busy with the Parliament Session, officials say he has found time for a fresh meeting with broadcasters to resolve outstanding issues. While the Ministry will not accept broadcasters’ demand for “self-regulation” and is all set to push through the concept of auditing television programme content, it is open to minimising regulation. “There is no way unrestricted airing of television news programmes will continue, public perspective has to be kept in mind. Also, it is no war between the Government and the broadcasters, as is made out to be, and we are sure the issue can be reasonably resolved,” said a senior official. The I & B Ministry had plans to take the Bill to the Cabinet and then table it in the ongoing session and had even asked broadcasters to send in their suggestions to the Content Code and proposed Broadcasting Bill by August 5. The broadcasters, however, rejected the code and called for a debate on the issue advocating self-regulation. The stand-off between broadcasters and the Ministry crops largely from the former’s view that the “regulation” proposed by the I & B Ministry amounts to censorship and is likely to interfere with objective news broadcast. Broadcasters point to clauses that all but make the Government appointed regulator, the final authority on what appears on a news channel, and could block criticism. A clause in the Content Code draft also says that news should not threaten national interest. Broadcasters contest this, arguing who defines “national interest”.
