Every regulatory body big or small, old or new has to follow some rules or protocols to function and by functioning within those rules, they have to manage the subject’s that comes under these bodies. These regulations and policies are framed by a regulatory body for the benefit of the governance; every organized body is bind within these rules and regulations for the well-being of the subject’s and so as to ensure organized working and to refrain from acts which are irresponsible or dangerous in nature. These regulatory bodies can be self-regulated or government regulated for sound functioning.
As by not going too far from the topic we establish that the same goes for the Media Industry which has the biggest impact on our lives, they have to follow some rules, regulations and policies within which they have to serve their purpose and perform their duties responsibly. The Media Industry as we know is a compilation of many mediums, each medium is managed by some or the other organisation like the Press Council of India for the Printing Media, News and Broadcasting Standard Authority for the News Distribution Media, The Central Board of Film Certification for the Movies, Cable Television Network (Regulations) Act, 1995 for the Television Content etc. These Media regulators are self-regulated but all these have the power and freedom derive from the Constitution of India and are answerable to the society and its Protectors.
History and Formation
As we all know that the media is concept of century old, before all this the word of mouth was a prevalent source of information, the kings and the civilians both get the information via this source but we are not going that far we need to just remind ourselves that even though the word of mouth was once a prevalent source it still was regulated because people try to confirm the information with the original source, the same goes for media nowadays, the regulatory boards which we know of can be discussed here –
The Press Council of India (PCI) was originally formed on 4th July 1966 to preserve the freedom of press and maintaining the standard of print media but was later repealed during Internal Emergency and a fresh legislation is enacted in 1978 for the council, it is a statutory body consists of 28 members selected from a retired Supreme Court Justice, Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, Editors of Newspaper, Working Journalist, people working in managing newspaper business etc. The Press Council of India has the responsibility to maintain the Freedom of Press, to maintain the high standards of public taste, to encourage the growth of sense of responsibility and public service and a code of conduct for Journalists, apart from it there is Sec 14 and Sec 15 that provides for other responsibilities.[i]
The next in line is News Broadcasters Authority (NBA) or the News Broadcasting Standards Authority is a self-regulated body formed in 2007 by the leading broadcasters of news for the regulation and with 9 members, it is formed under the Indian Broadcasting Foundation a parent company for Broadcasting Content Complaint Council (BCCC) too. It regulates the content and establishes the Code of ethics and Broadcasting Standards.[ii]
The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is statutory body formed Ministry of Information and Broadcasting under the provision of Cinematography Act, 1952. There are non-official members and chairman apart from that there are 23 members in a Censor board which regulates and provide guidelines for exhibition u/s 5 B of the Cinematography (Certification) Rules, 1983 with Certificates like U, U/A, A and S.[iii]
For the Television Industry, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997 was created, through which a Parliamentary body was established in 1997 with the name of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to regulate telecom services. It is the duty of TRAI to regulate and create policies for Telecom Media like The National Telecom Policy, 2012 which has the objective to secure, affordable and high quality telecommunication services to all citizens etc.[iv]. Apart from it the need to regulate the broadcasting content was shown in the case of Shiv Cable TV System vs. The State of Rajasthan[v] which lead to the need and creation of “The Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act of 1995”.
These are only a few of many other regulatory bodies that govern the Media Content in our country to present as an example. The role of these media regulators is to provide adequate freedom for content and representation of their idea and views over the Media Platform.
Why do they regulate?
Now we know that there are more than few Organisation, Boards and Acts that regulate the Media. But why do they do it? The thing is that every industry needs an authority to govern the modus operandi and a body to protect them to work in their own way and to regulate if they go off the path that’s where these Board and Act comes in.
Still there are times these regulatory bodies have to take the help of Judiciary like in case of Ajay Goswami vs. Union of India[vi], (2007) which comment on Press Council of India and its lack of power for penalizing, similarly in M/s Prakash Jha Productions & Anr. Vs. Union of India & Ors[vii] for the movie Aarakshan or Krishna Mishra and Anr. Vs. Central Board of Film Certification, for the movie Beehad where the parties has to lead to the court for defense and for exercise of power are the prominent examples.
Need for Regulation and Policies
We do know that the rules and policies are made for the benefit of the society, the same goes for the media industry it is also needed to be refrain or regulate from commission or supporting acts that can harm the society. When the Media is misutilizing the power conferred upon it by the Constitution like by Conducting Media Trials, lack of responsibility towards action without conviction etc. at those moments it is necessary for the society, the government and the regulatory body to think whether the regulation and policies made to correct the mishaps are enough, the checks placed is enough. The most notable event of Trial by media is in the case of Sarvjeet Singh Bedi’s case ( or as many of you know as Jasleen Kaun’s Sexual Harassment case) from New Delhi where the life of an innocent guy is destroyed by Media Trial who was later acquitted by the Court.
Apart from these it is also required to give them the freedom to write about more broad concept and acknowledge the truths of life, so that they can fight and support the people and the work required to save, like the LGBTQ community from the clutches of the societal thinking even after the worldwide recognition.
What to do next?
After reading above we all are thinking what to do next? Or what can we do next? The answer is simple we can support the media for its good work and criticize the media and its regulators on their wrong decisions. Media the regulator, the mirror of the society sometimes need to see the mirror itself. They need to acknowledge that they have the duty towards the society, toward us the reader, the viewers and the listeners. And these regulatory bodies i.e. The Media Regulators and Policymakers to amend the regulation and policies till we find the right solution to the right problem until then we have to keep on trying for the benefit of the next generation.
