The Government is introducing Media regulation Bill with a Backdoor Entry.A private member's bill submitted for discussion by Congress MP, and Rahul Gandhi aide, Meenakshi Natarajan has the Opposition up in arms.However,the Congress on Tuesday distan

The Government is introducing Media regulation Bill with a Backdoor Entry.A private member's bill submitted for discussion by Congress MP, and Rahul Gandhi aide, Meenakshi Natarajan has the Opposition up in arms.However,the Congress on Tuesday distanced itself from a bill on media regulation proposed by Meenakshi Natarajan, a Lok Sabha MP and an aide of Rahul Gandhi, the party's general secretary. Ministers like kapil Sibal has been pleading to control content on Social Networking Sites. Google and Facebook have been already restricted. This government allowed FDI and the FDI fed Corporate media misusing soft and hard  core Porn to boost TRP and readership. The Government has Nothing to do with that. It intends to control only Content and Information regarding Policy Making. It is seriously trying to lock the floodgates of the Stings, Exposures and Criticism in an of Governance, Scams, Scandals and Public Money Laundering, Corporate Lobbying!
Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams, chapter 766

Palash Biswas

http://indianholocaustmyfatherslifeandtime.blogspot.com/


http://basantipurtimes.blogspot.com/

The Government is introducing Media regulation Bill with a Backdoor Entry.A private member's bill submitted for discussion by Congress MP, and Rahul Gandhi aide, Meenakshi Natarajan has the Opposition up in arms.However,the Congress on Tuesday distanced itself from a bill on media regulation proposed by Meenakshi Natarajan, a Lok Sabha MP and an aide of Rahul Gandhi, the party's general secretary. Ministers like kapil Sibal has been pleading to control content on Social Networking Sites. Google and Facebook have been already restricted. This government allowed FDI and the FDI fed Corporate media misusing soft and hard  core Porn to boost TRP and readership. The Government has Nothing to do with that. It intends to control only Content and Information regarding Policy Making. It is seriously trying to lock the floodgates of the Stings, Exposures and Criticism in an of Governance, Scams, Scandals and Public Money Laundering, Corporate Lobbying!

All of us knows that the Media is now. controlled by Market Forces which defends the FREE Market Economy as well as Free Market Politics. It justifies Exclusion of the Ninety Nine Percent population and creates ground for Repression and ethnic Cleansing in teh aborigine Humanscape. It manipulates Public opinion and deletes the Prespectives and stance in favour of the People. It creates Hype for National Security , Internal Security and Hike in Defence expenditure. It pushes hard for Economic reforms which are the best tools of Genocide culture. It kills all the movement of the masses and whatsoever resistance. it denies space for Excluded communities as SC, ST, OBC and Minorities. It justifies Segregation of the tribal people and justifies their Displacement all on the name of Development. It pleads to kill all subsidies and justifies overloaded Taxation of the excluded Ninety Nine percent. That is the FDI fed Indian media. even the district level local media is bought up. which media has to be controlled, it is understood.

The structure in media groups have been restructured meanwhile. The institutions of editor and editorial have been killed. CEO and Managing Editors have taken over. Many Newspapers are published without any editorial. Engineers prepare the pages recieved from the Centre adjusting Ads and the editions are printed. Some Hindi and other major language papers have adopted high profile intellectual mode which promotes debates on non issues while these great guns never to care to publish information about governance and administration. The Iconic editors never do meet the editorial at all. Corporate Houses decide the policies in accordance with their interest. Working Journalists have nothing to do with the editing. reporting is always linked with market and marketing strategies. The government has nothing to do with the entertaining media showcasing all types of Naked Videos and Photo Gallery on its portals.These newspapers are not meant for readership , it is meant for viewership. The electronic media is engaged with entertainment slots and everything rubbish. TRP and Ad Revenue decide their policies.The government and political parties and all sorts of Ethical Bhadra People have no objection to the murder of Information, Knowledge and opinion. This media hardly represents and is consisted of the representatives of the Ruling class and castes. The Bosses have not to sit in examinations nor they have to accomplish any task whatsoever. They are always on tour. engaged in Panel discussions and do their best in live show or seminars. No concern , No commitment may be expected from them. The Working journalists have become Slaves of the system. The government of india is not in a mood to uproot the favourable set up best suited to Realty, Promoters, Builders, Mafia, Underworld and so on all on the name of Industrialisation, urbanisation, development and shining India.

The real target is Alternative Media, an island where most of the sidelined working media persons chose to express their concern and commitment to sustain themselves as Professionals. The Target  is social networking  media which has emerged as a Challenging force against the Hegemony and the Genocide culture. Occupy Wall Street and arabian spring have proved its metals. the Scams Scandals Stung government is all set to get RID of this. The judiciary is used again and agin and the Parliament which itself has been killed, its dead body has to be used against the Rebel Media!


At a time when the Supreme Court has indicated its intent to lay down "guidelines" for the media, Congress Lok Sabha member and a close aide of AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi, Meenakshi Natarajan, wants a law to regulate the media, both print and broadcast. And set up an authority that can even "suo motu" probe "complaints" against the media.The bill even suggests a fine of up to Rs. 50 lakh, suspension of the organisation's licence for up to 11 months and cancellation in some cases. Bill provides for a media regulatory body "with a sweeping set of powers including imposing a "ban" or suspending coverage" of an event or incident that "may pose a threat to national security". The details of the bill can be found in the article link above.

Print and Electronic Media Standards and Regulation salient features are:-

Regulatory authority to be notified by the central government; exempt from RTI; can ban coverage of an even:

* Selection committee to have three members selected by the central government

* Among "standards": "prohibition of reporting of any news item based in unverified and dubious material"; "prohibition of publication or broadcast of any material that is defamatory; clear "segregation of opinions from facts"; prohibition of reporting a news item which is obscene, vulgar or "offensive"

* Power to "search and seize" any document "kept secretly at some secluded place". Authority can suspend operations of the media organisation for a period of up to 11 months

* No civil court will have jurisdiction of any matter which the Authority is empowered to determine

BJP today sought to know whether Rahul Gandhi agrees with the contents of the controversial Bill which was scheduled to be moved by his close aide Meenakshi Natarajan and is allegedly aimed at gagging the media.

"We still do not know with what intention this Bill was to be moved in Parliament. If it has the personal views of the MP, then she can surely bring it as a Private Members' Bill," BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy told reporters.

He claimed BJP has always stood for freedom of the press and does not believe there should be any attempt to gag the media.

Natarajan, who is Congress MP from Mandsaur and is considered close to Rahul Gandhi, was scheduled introduce a Private Members' Bill last Friday.

Called the "Print and Electronic Media Standards and Regulation Bill, 2012", it aims at establishing a regulatory authority with powers to impose a ban or suspend coverage of an event or an incident that may pose a threat to national security from foreign or internal sources. However, she was not present in the Lok Sabha and so the Bill was not introduced.

Asked about its provisions and whether BJP felt it reflected the views of Gandhi, Rudy said "since she is close to Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, it would be better if he himself clears the air on the issue."

"It has to be viewed as a trial balloon as it comes in the midst of intense debate over guidelines for media and while even the judicial experts are talking about it," he said. "It is very clear that unless self-regulatory measures are not adopted by the media, the government may try to bring in such a regulation," says Balveer Arora, a political analyst, quoted in Mint.

Mint also says that Ambika Soni and Manish Tewari said that the Bill may not reflect the party's or the government's views and that "three Congress leaders, including a cabinet minister, said the proposed law embarrassed the party."

Mint also put the likelihood of the bill passing in perspective. "According to PRS Legislative Research, a non-profit organization focused on pending legislation, no private members' Bill has been passed by Parliament since 1970. Of the about 300 private members' Bills introduced in the 14th Lok Sabha, barely 4% were discussed; 96% lapsed without even a single debate in the House,"  it said.


Natarajan gave notice in the Lok Sabha to introduce a Private Member's Bill called Print and Electronic Media Standards and Regulation Bill, 2012.

A first-term Congress MP from Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh, Natarajan is a member of Rahul Gandhi's core team. She is also an AICC secretary.

Her proposed Bill seeks "to provide for the constitution of the Print and Electronic Media Regulation Authority with a view to lay down standards to be followed by the print and electronic media and to establish credible and expedient mechanism for investigating suo motu or into complaints by individuals against print and electronic media, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto".

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The decision to repeal and replace the 1894 Land Acquisition Act is welcome, but many provisions of the new Bill are so vague that they will only perpetuate past mistakes.

"The bill is based on her (Natarajan's) views. These are not the views of Rahul Gandhi. Neither are these his views nor has she got his consent on this bill," Congress General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi told reportersin New Delhi.

Natarajan, a first-time MP, was supposed to introduce The Print and Electronic Media Standards and Regulation Bill, 2012, a Private Member's Bill, last week. However, she was absent during the session.Her bill proposes sweeping powers to an authority to regulate media including banning or suspending coverage of an event or incident that may pose a threat to national security from foreign or internal sources.

Natarajan, 38, was elected from the Mandsaur constituency in Madhya Pradesh in 2009.

She is also an All India Congress Committee secretary and part of Rahul Gandhi's core team.

The 13th debate organised by FMP on the issue, Media Bill: Regulation Through The Backdoor drew an audience of 240 people at India International Centre on Thursday, the 12th of August, 2010. Students of Times School of Journalism, Pioneer School of Journalism, Lady Shri Ram College and Amity University participated in strength. Here are the points made by the speakers.
Rajdeep Sardesai, Editor-in-Chief, CNN-IBN and President of the Editors' Guild :

(1) I am in favour of regulation because the media industry has grown big. It has not been able to regulate itself. The National Broadcasting Association has a code of conduct. But this applies to a handful of TV channels that are its members. Even when the code was violated and strictures passed by Ombudsman (former chief justice ) J S Verma, channels threatened to walk out rather than make amends.

(2) Many TV channels are promoting irrationality, booth-preth superstition and vulgarity. They are violating the privacy of private individuals (say, by showing the faces of rape victims) or inciting violence (as happened against a school teacher in Delhi, wrongly accused by a TV channel of soliciting for her students). I agree with the Broadcast Editors' Association that self-regulation is best. But self-regulation has not worked. If TV channels do not restrain themselves, the courts will step in. For instance, on a petition filed by Dr Rajesh Talwar complaing that TV channels were defying its gag order in the Aarushi murder case, the Supreme Court has ordered the media not to report on any investigation without naming sources.

(3) The media wants autonomy but it has not displayed responsibility. For instance, the Press Council was compelled not to name offending newspapers in its report on paid news, because they threatened to walk out. But regulation by government is no alternative. The Emergency and the Defamation Bill are examples of its instincts to control the media in the name of regulation. The government is tapping into the discontent against the media to gag it. It is not just the government, but the entire political class that is unhappy with the media, which has been exposing their corruption. The government has enough powers to act against media houses. The fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression conferred by Article 19 of the Constitution also allows reasonable restrictions on eight grounds including decency, morality and national security. The Cable Act also gives wide powers to the authorities. The media regulation bill is a warning to those in the media who are committed to quality journalism.

(4) Too much is being made about the media going overboard with stories like Rahul Mahajan allegedly beating up his wife. So long as there is public interest in such events the media will report it. But a line must be drawn between trivia and malicious reportage, harmful inaccuracy and abuse of media's freedom.

(5) The government must give legislative backing to a code of conduct to be enforced by the National Broadcasting Association, of which all TV companies will be compulsory members are part of the license conditions. A good example is the Advertising Standards Council of India.
(6) An issue to be addressed is also censorship by non-state actors. For example the Reddy Brothers of Bellary yanked off CNN-IBN in seven districts after it broadcast a documentary on their illegal mining activities.

Pavan Chopra, Former Information & Broadcasting Secretary:
(1) At one time media meant newspapers. These were owned by trusts, which were high-minded. The media is now very commercial. Private interests dominate. People are concerned about sex, violence, intrigue and sensationalism. In the quest for ratings, TV channels have interfered in military matters (Kargil war) and hampered action against terrorists (26/11).
(2) The media has always been regulated. Films are pre-censored. Newspapers are the least regulated. The Press Council is toothless. It is difficult to monitor live TV news broadcasting.
(3) The government's interest in regulation is self-seeking. It has not itself set up the Broacasting Council for Prasar Bharati, to address quality issues and complaints, even though the law requires it to.
(4) In Britain, more than the media regulator, it is the BBC that has set standards with its quality journalism. We need ratings that measure quality.
(5) I am not in favour of government regulation except in times of war and terrorism.
(6) The harm caused by non-regulation is less than the harm caused by government regulation.
N K Singh, Secretary-General, Broadcast Editors' Association
(1) We need to do zabardast criticism of ourselves. "The way we have been conducting ourselves is pathetic." Trivialisation has happened. 'Lafanga Rahul,' 'Chichora Rahul,' 'Rahul Rangeela Kyon?' – TV channels are full of such trivialities.
(2) The private TV industry is 16 years old. As a former CIA director said, 'your successes are unsung, your failures are trumpeted.' Because of TV string operations eleven MPs were removed over the cash for questions scandal. Courts have changed their verdict (Jessica Lal case). The Election Commission has compelled police action against MPs caught on spy cameras selling their Rajya Sabha votes.
(3) The government has proposed three tiers of content regulation (1) A complaint redressal system within a TV channel itself (2) regulation by industry (3) An appellate authority with members selected by the Lok Sabha speaker, the chairperson of the Rajya Sabha and the Supreme Court Chief Justice. Of these the first two are political animals. We have also seen how Supreme Court judges behave closer to their retirement, hoping that if they do not offend the government, they will get post-retirement sinecures.
(4) Restrictions placed on the media when the Constitution was drafted may not be entirely acceptable in the light of new sensibilities. For instance, the intolerance of human rights violations extends beyond national boundaries. National security should be no excuse for gagging the media if our Armed Forces violate human rights.
(5) The government must address the issue of TV ratings. Currently these are measured with the help of 10,200 Peoplemeters across the country. Of these 46 percent are in five metros. Because of this, a 10 paise hike in bus fares in Mumbai makes big news, but not say, a shortage of fertilizer in Bulandshahr. TV news is skewed because of the way that ratings are measured. We must develop a parallel rating system for rural areas.
(6) Peer pressure works. In the past eight months many issues of content code violation have been taken up within the TV industry itself by the Broadcast Editors' Association.
K V Dhananjay, Supreme Court Advocate and Counsel for Nityananda Swamy and Constitutional Expert.
Background: Mr Dhananjay was invited to speak because he has a grouse against the media, which he claims, has maligned his client by publishing reports about a ("doctored") tape showing the godman having sex with a Tamil actress.
(1) The right to freedom of speech and expression in India is not absolute like it is in the United States. The Constitution allows reasonable restrictions to be imposed.
(2) There is need for more intense regulation because the media has not behaved itself. There is widespread public disenchantment with its excesses.
(3) Whether the conduct code is acceptable or not is not for the media to decide. It is up to the government.
(4) Four months ago Nityananda Swamy was arrested on the basis of a video that was broadcast by TV channels. Not one of them verified the authenticity of the video. As a result, the "empire" that the Swamy on the basis of his preaching has collapsed. The Swamy's devotees have filed a police complaint. They are going to move the Karnataka High Court to prosecute TV channels for obscenity, a crime that carries a three-year jail sentence.
(5) TV channels have double standards. If they were so much concerned about freedom of speech, why are they not protesting against the ban on radio ne0ws broadcasting?
Sajjan Venniyoor, Community Radio Expert:
(1) I am in favour of regulation. But it should not be left to the government or to self-appointed "self-regulators' from the media. The public has an interest. They should have a stake. Civil society should be engaged.
(2) N K Singh said he is not free to disclose the deliberations of the task force constituted by the government. Why this secrecy? In none of these deliberations has the public been invited (N K Singh says the task force has held 40 public meetings).
(3) Why is the TV industry silent about the ban on news broadcasting over radio. This is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court in 1995 has said that airwaves belong to the people. The newspaper industry that owns many FM channels does not want news on radio. It is happy with entertainment. When satellite radio began beaming news into the country, the FM industry cried discrimination. To level the playing field, the government banned news on satellite radio as well!
(4) N K Singh asked Sajjan to send an editor to be a member of the Broadcast Editors' Association so that it could take up the case for permitting news broadcasting over radio.

In America,Freedom of the press is a fundamental liberty guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution. As such, courts and legislative bodies have been hesitant to impinge on that freedom. In fact, there are numerous state and federal statutes that seek to ensure the full extent of the guarantee of the First Amendment, such as the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act.

Historically, media law has been divided into two areas: telecommunications and print sources (newspapers, periodicals, etc.). There are some federal regulations regarding both categories and there are state laws governing both areas as well. The scope of these laws is limited by the First Amendment. (see also: communication law)

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates interstate and foreign communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable. It was created by the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 151 et seq.) to regulate interstate and foreign communications by wire and radio in the public interest.

Different branches of the media are regulated by different bureaus. The Media Bureau regulates amplitude and frequency modulation, low-power television, direct broadcast satellite, and regulates cable television. The Wireline Competition Bureau regulates telephone and cable facilities. The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau administers all domestic commercial and private wireless telecommunications programs and policies. The International Bureau manages all international programs. In a sweeping overhaul of the Communications Act of 1934, Congress enacted the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (47 U.S.C. 51 et seq.). Its goal was to deregulate the industry and encourage competition.

The growth of the Internet and digital media more generally have begun to blur the boundaries between media segments. In 1998, Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to deal with Internet issues and the advanced technologies used to bypass copy protection devices.
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