Curbs will harm freedom of speech,say Oppn parties

The Left too was critical of any form of external control over the media though its leaders maintained that wrong trends like paid news needed to be tackled. Asserting that freedom of expression could not be compromised,CPM Politburo member Sitaram Yechury said government control would only lead to censorship as has been seen during Emergency days.

“Freedom of expression is a right. You cannot gag,control or direct the media. They have a role to play in a democracy. How that is played with responsibility is something which has to be considered. The definition of responsibility also varies. The ruling party will have one definition,others will have another,” he said. “But there cannot be any governmental control or regulation. We’ve seen government control degenerate into censorship during the Emergency. It requires broad consultations and consensus,not governmental control.”

CPI’s Gurudas Dasgupta said any move to regulate the media is a “dangerous one” and regulation should be done only by the media itself or the Press Council. “If there is to be any regulation,it should be self regulation. Press should regulate itself. Many years ago,Indira Gandhi brought censorship and she had to pay the price for it. This should be borne in mind.”

He added the Private Member’s Bill on regulating media sought to be brought by Congress MP Meenakshi Natarajan should not be given much importance as she is a new member and “yet to know the principles of functional democracy”.

BJP’s chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad,himself a former I&B minister,maintained that BJP was committed to press freedom as enshrined in the Constitution while adding that he was against state intervention.