Broadcasters set up editors panel

More than a year after the creation of the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) in order to put in place a self-regulatory authority....

More than a year after the creation of the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) in order to put in place a self-regulatory authority to keep the government away from content regulation,news broadcasters on Saturday announced the setting up of a Broadcast Editors Association (BEA).

The body has been set up to strengthen the values of objective and fair broadcast journalism and to protect and promote the freedom of expression. The editors of television channels feel there is a need to evolve healthy norms,promote training of professional journalists at all levels,ensure dissemination of credible and constructive news content and to protect the right to freedom of expression,whenever threatened,a BEA statement said.

While Star News Shazi Zaman has been appointed BEA president,Times Nows Arnab Goswami and NDTVs Pankaj Pachauri are vice-presidents. ETVs N K Singh has been appointed general secretary and Live Indias Sudhir Chaudhary treasurer. The Executive Committee will include Ashutosh (IBN-7),Vinay Tewari (CNN-IBN),Satish K Singh (ZEE TV),Ajit Anjum (News-24),Vinod Kapri (India TV),Sanjay Bragta (Sahara TV) and Pranjal Sharma (UTV).

Zaman told The Sunday Express that the aim of BEA was two-fold. One is to create a forum for debate and discussion on issues related to editorial content and the other is to speak up for the freedom of expression of the media. Zaman said the forum for editors will soon expand and more news channel editors will join.

The BEA will soon develop its own website so as to make direct media-public interaction possible. It will hold seminars and other modes of two-way interaction to receive feedback from civil society organisations and decision-makers in public domain, the BEA statements added.

To be modelled on the lines of the Editors Guild of India that works in the print media sector,the BEA will function as the intellectual think-tank for broadcasters.