WHAT IS MEDIA?

It is the communication channel through which we tend to flow into news, music, movies, education, promotional messages and other data. It includes physical and on-line newspapers, magazines, televisions, radios, billboards, telephone and also the web.

WHAT IS A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY?

 A democratic society is the one which is governed of the people, for the people and by    the people and which provides equal chance to all the citizens to participate and play a major role in the process of democracy.

So, a democratic media is the concept that the media ought to be organised on democratic lines rather than strict commercial lines with the aim of transparency, inclusiveness, one person-one-vote and other key concepts of democracy. With its vast religious, ethnic and linguistic diversity, India provides an exceptional example of a vibrant democracy with a composite political landscape. Basically, there are 3 main sorts of media Print Media (Newspapers, Magazines), Broadcast Media (TV, Radio), Outdoor or Out of Home (OOH) Media, Internet (Social Media).

ROLE OF MEDIA IN DEMOCRACY

Media acts as a bridge between the individuals and the government and also an extremely powerful tool with the ability to make and break the opinion of the individual. Democracy can’t achieve success without free press. It’s very essential, as it is the voice of the individuals however media shall fall as a victim to some monetary or any other temptations, and shall stick with serving individuals honestly. Media constituted as the fourth pillar of democracy. It plays an essential role in shaping human minds. It makes the citizen or the people at large aware about day to day activities in politics, sports, economic, social and cultural fields. It conjointly shows the blank truth and also the harsh facts by acting as a mirror. However, it plays an important role in shaping the general public minds and conjointly the democracy. It is referred to as the backbone of democracy because it empowers the individuals through information also media arranges debates on current affairs and contradicting policies so that utterly different views may be listed.

Power of speech is euphoria to a person. Freedom of speech and expression has been affirmed as a special right of the democratic society. Under Article 19 (1) (a) the freedom of press has been included under the Constitution of India. It’s not specifically mentioned but it’s necessary as the press and an individual or citizen was same as far as their right of expression was concerned. Though the press and media enjoy the freedom in expressing their views, these freedoms aren’t absolute and are subject to constrained restrictions. The Supreme Court in Romesh Thappar v. State of Madras[1], held in this case, entry and circulation of the English journal “Cross Road”, printed and published in Bombay, was banned by the Government of Madras. The same was held to be violative of the freedom of speech and expression, as “without liberty of circulation, publication would be of little value”.

In Union of India v/s Association for Democratic Reforms[2], the Court held that, Freedom of speech and expression includes right to impart and receive information which incorporates freedom to carry opinion.

Sakal Papers v/s Union of India[3], the Daily Newspapers (Price and Page) Order, and 1960 that mounted the quantity of pages and size that a newspaper might publish at a price was held to be offending of freedom of press and not a reasonable restriction under the Article 19(2).

RESPONSIBILITIES OF MEDIA

The press and other people connected with media owe a higher responsibility towards the society and so the people of this country. In the changed scenario, when we face multiple challenges with machinery and therefore the individuals at large are needed to face the challenges of globalization and international developments, the press, administrative machinery and the people at large are required to face the challenges with abundant sincerity. Thus smooth functioning of democratic methodology, watchful eyes of the legislature is crucial and at the sometime the public opinion and the liberty of the press ought to be safeguarded of course under the Constitutional boundaries and permissible limits. In a democratic country like India the media has following responsibilities:

i.                    To equip the individuals with unbiased data. Media shall not taint the facts; they shall present them as they’re.

ii.                  To play vital role in broadening the thinking of the individuals, by empowering them with knowledge. In a country like India where there’s vital rate of illiteracy, it is the duty of media to impart knowledge and broaden their views.

iii.                 To fairly criticize any action it, is against the spirit of justice or basis of democracy.

iv.                To imply the concept practices and play a vital role in initiating the correct procedure against the societies who are accused of any antisocial activities, in spite of any political connection.

v.                  To foster the spirit of unity and brotherhood among the individuals, and install belief in democracy and justice. If the media adheres strictly to its duties then the democracy will be enjoyed in true sense by the civilians of India.

CONCLUSION

The power and significance of media in democratic society is world illustrious. The media works as a watchdog of the government and carry each report of the actions of administration thereby keeping the individuals acquainted concerning of the day to day happenings that are going down around them. For appropriate functioning of a democratic system, there should be transparency and authority. Democracy cannot be successful without free press. Free press is indivisible part of democracy also because it’s the voice of the people. Freedom of speech and expression is one such right that the citizens are entitled to. Media is the sword arm of democracy, it is playing very significant role in Indian democracy. Every individual is a medium of expression. Media plays very emphatic role in awakening people against many evils prevailing in the society like child marriage, killing of female unborn child, the evil practice of child labour etc. Modern media i.e. electronic media has enhanced the quality of democratic process by providing a platform for public participation on issues of national or social concern in a manner that is able to influence the Government.

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COMMON CHALLENGES BEFORE THE MEDIA

There is no doubt, that a free media is crucial for the exercise of a fair democracy. Without free media it’s not possible to imagine any democratic society, as democracy will lose its essence. A question now haunts is that whether the media is really serving the individuals. The answer unfortunately is no. The media isn’t serving the individuals as was expected to serve, when releasing it from the governmental management. The question that arises is why the independent media fails to perform its duties fairly, objectively and impartially. The hurdles that come in the way of the media while performing its duties are as follows: (a) Paid news (b) Corporate Intrusion

PAID NEWS

Paid news or paid content are those articles in newspapers, magazines, and the electronic media, that indicate favourable conditions for the establishment that has acquired it.[1] Paid news is where an advertisement is disguised as news. To place it in other words, the news channels advertise a party, or an individual under the colour of news. An advertisement is different from the news that is projected by the media. The media doesn’t receive any monetary consideration for news, where as in an advertisement the monetary consideration is a must. As per the rule of the Press Council the advertisement ought to be clearly distinct from the news content. Paid news is an advertisement which is designed as news and the viewer is made to believe that it is news, when actually it’s not. Such a disguise is created either promote or defame someone, in exchange for consideration.

PAID NEWS IN INDIA

In a country like India, the individuals tend to believe the media, so when the media, especially the press writes anything good or bad concerning somebody the citizens tend to believe it. The politicians in India take the advantage of such a belief, gets lavish praise for them, or taint or tarnish the image of the opponents, by paying high amounts. When any candidate resorts to the strategy of the paid news for his popularity, he’s not only deceiving the general public but commits 3 main offences.

·         The paid news might create the individuals to believe what might not be fair, or true.

·         Where the candidate pays to the newspaper agency and this dealing between the candidate and the press or any media is done secretly. He is thus guilty of violating Representation of the People Act, 1951.

·         Similarly the deal being a secret media company who receives such consideration won’t account the money received by the candidate. This means that the said media company is violating the provisions of commercial and the fiscal statutes.

CORPORATE INTRUSION

An intrusion is any activity that’s designed to compromise data security. This may be through more menacing and pervasive formats like ransom ware or unintentional data breaches by staff or others connected to the network. An intrusion includes any of the following:

• Malware or ransom ware
• Attempts to gain unauthorized access to a system
• Cyber-enabled equipment destruction
• Accidental employee security breaches (like moving a secure file into a shared folder)
• Untrustworthy users –both team members and those outside of your organization
• Social engineering attacks –such as phishing campaigns and other ways of tricking users with seemingly legitimate communication
• There are much fewer methods for ensuring data safety with confidence and dependability. One trusted data security solution for MSPs is using an intrusion detection system.

METHOD TO IMPROVE INTRUSION DETECTIONS

Intrusion redundancies are basic flaws of all intrusion detection systems. Over the years, these are frequently exploited by stealthy attackers to conceal network attacks because it is fundamentally difficult to discern false alerts from true positives in a massive dataset. Consequently, attacks that are concealed in massive datasets often go undetected. Accordingly, the role of system administrators and the return on investment on network intrusion detectors are often threatened. Therefore, the clustering technique is designed to minimize these issues. It’s generally evaluated technique on six datasets that comprised of artificial and realistic attacks. Alerts of every dataset were clustered into equivalent and distinctive alerts and a cluster of these were eventually synthesized.

LAWS RELATING TO CORPORATE INTRUSION IN INDIA

The Information Technology Act, 2000 is an act to provide legal recognition for transactions carried out by means of electronic data interchange and other means of electronic communication. The following important sections have been substituted and inserted by the IT Amendment Act, 2008:

1. Section 43A – Compensation for failure to protect data.

2. Section 66 – Computer Related Offences

3. Section 66A – Punishment for sending offensive messages through communication service (This provision had been struck down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court as unconstitutional on 24th March 2015 in Shreya Singhal vs. Union of India)[2]

4. Section 66F – Punishment for cyber terrorism.[3]

CONCLUSION

There is no denying in the fact that the media is the backbone of the legal system. In the recent times the media has grown voluminously in different spheres. The role of media has increased in proportion to its growth. The media has diverse roles to perform in a society like the role of an unbiased informer, educator, mentor and an instrument of social change. While performing these roles the media has to face the stiff challenges such as violation of right to privacy, illiteracy, aliteracy. Sometimes the media oversteps the line of freedom and causes invasion of privacy or nuisance. This is because the media wants to create news, for the considerations, best known. The social media has undergone a sea change, as the channels are used for, employments, advertisements, social contacts, and professional life as well. If the users of the social media keep themselves within legal limits, then there is no fear of violation of right to privacy and balancing of the conflicting interests can be achieved between these two seemingly opposite concepts. The users of social media should adhere to the safety rules, so that the offenders cannot victimise the users easily.

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Traditional cultural expressions conjointly referred to as “expressions of folklore”, and  embodies music, dance, art, designs, names, signs and symbols, performances, ceremonies, architectural forms, handicrafts and narratives, several different artistic or cultural expressions.[1] Traditional cultural expressions:

·         Form an element of the identity and heritage of a traditional or indigenous community;

·         They are passed from generation to generation.

·         They consist of characteristic elements of community’s heritage

·         Constantly developing and recreated within the community[2]

TCEs are integral to the cultural and social identities of indigenous and native communities, embody know-how and skills, and transmit core values and beliefs. Their protection is claimed to be the promotion of creativity, increased cultural diversity and also the preservation of cultural heritage.

Protection of traditional cultural expressions

India is a diverse country with a rich culture, art and literature and creations of its own. Due to the trendy and quick developing technology it has affected the art and craft culture in India. There isn’t any branch under IP designed to safeguard such cultural heritage in public domain. The TCEs are cultural and economical assets of the individuals and to a community at large who are its creators, practitioners and custodians. They’re the sources of income and supply livelihood and easing poverty and socio-economic disadvantage for such communities. IP refers to creations of the mind like inventions, designs, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and performances. IP is usually protected by laws that establish private property rights in creations and innovations so as to grant control over their exploitation, like commercial exploitation, and to administer incentives for further creativity. There is a very vital relationship between IP ‘protection’ and ‘preservation ‘in the cultural heritage context. Like, the very process of preservation can trigger concerns about lack of IP protection and may run the risk of unintentionally placing TCEs within the ‘public domain’[3]; thus leaving others absolve to use them against the wishes of the original community. The needs and attention of TCE holders and practitioners can in some cases be addressed more appropriately by measures for preservation and safeguarding rather than IP protection.

National policy, Regulations and Institutions

India doesn’t have in place a separate legislation for protection of TCEs. The prevailing laws governing TCEs directly or indirectly are:

The Constitution of India

A liberal interpretation of the article 21 can provide protection to TCE owners[4]. The Constitution of India in Article 29 (1) identifies protection of cultural rights of minorities as a Fundamental Right[5]. Article 51A puts the charge of preservation, respecting and safeguarding the rich heritage of the Indian culture on every citizen of India as their fundamental duty. [6]

IP Legislations

The Copyright Act, 1957 doesn’t anywhere directly mention about the protection of TCEs. However, the interpretation of definitions of artistic work, dramatic work, engravings, Indian work, literary work, musical work, performance, and performers, as defined in the Act, would include works which fall within the ambit of TCEs. Various sections of the Copyright Act such as Section 31A, on compulsory licence provides for copyright of unpublished or published work of unknown authors; Section 38, performer’s rights; Section 57, author’s special rights also called moral rights the author has a right to claim authorship, restrain or claim damages just in case of distortion, mutation, modification or any such act which is in honour or reputation, and might be interpreted to extend assurance to the interests of TCE owner.[7]

GI is a community right; as a result traditional communities often depend upon GIs to safeguard certain of their rights related to their goods which have some quality or reputation or other characteristics linked to the geographical area in which they are produced. The authorized GI mark on the good helps create a brand image for the traditional good which demonstrates age old culture.

A Trade Mark is a mark capable of distinguishing the products and services of one person from others. TM enables the buyer to identify the source of the products or the services. Registered trademarks of traditional goods and services may be protected. Section 29 of the TM Act is against any infringement of non-registered goods and services.[8] Collective marks can be used to create a brand image for traditional goods and service like paintings, handlooms, weaves. Certification Marks can be used to protect traditional goods, which have cultural significance.

Institutional Framework

TCEs and folklore have anchored themselves into the digital dimension along with digitalisation, online libraries and depositories. Although online libraries are opened it lacked attention and emphasis given to other TK databases, like the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), in government policies and initiatives. Civil societies and NGOs have made contributions towards digitisation for protection of TCEs in India namely;

1.      The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH)

2.      The National Folklore Support Centre (NFSC)

3.      The Archives and Research Centre for Ethnomusicology at American Institute for Indian Studies in India (AIISI)

4.      National Mission on Cultural Mapping of India

5.      The National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM)

6.      National Centre for Arts (IGNCA)

Treaties and Institutions

Some of the treaties by various institutions are:

1.      African Intellectual Property Organisation (OAPI)

2.      The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, 1886

3.      The Tunis Model Law on Copyright for Developing Countries, 1976

4.      The UNESCO-WIPO Model Provisions for National Laws on the Protection of Expressions of Folklore against Illicit Exploitation and Other Prejudicial Actions,1982

5.      The WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT), 1996

6.      The UNESCO/WIPO World Forum on Protection of Folklore, 1997

7.      WIPO’s Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC),2000

8.      The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), 2007

9.      The Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances, 2012

Potential barriers

Mechanisms for the protection of IP are established on protecting the rights of identified individual creators and innovators over their creations and innovations that exist in physical format; this cannot easily adapted to protecting collectively-owned TCEs of understanding to communities, dating back generations. Such differences end in potential gaps.[9] Indigenous peoples may additionally find that barriers hinder their use of the formal IP system. Some of these potential gaps and barriers include:

·         Formal IP protection often requires the identification of a known individual creator(s) or inventor(s) so as to determine the holders of the IP rights. The very concept of “ownership” within the IP-context may contrast with Indigenous notions of “ownership” of Indigenous knowledge and cultural expressions

·         It may not meet IP standards of “originality” such as required under copyright law, or “novelty” under patent, etc

·         The requirement that an idea needs to take on a fixed form to be protected under existing copyright laws, may prevent the protection of intangible Indigenous knowledge and cultural expressions that are transmitted or shared orally

·         Innovations supported on Indigenous knowledge could also be eligible for protection under existing IP frameworks, but not the underlying knowledge itself

·         The limited term of protection for a few IP, wouldn’t protect Indigenous knowledge and cultural expressions indefinitely

·         The costs and sophisticated processes for registration, renewal and enforcement

·         Exceptions and limitations typically found in IP laws might not be considered to be suitable for Indigenous knowledge and cultural expressions, particularly if it’s considered to be sacred.

Conclusion

India doesn’t have a sui generis law to safeguard TCEs and folklore and relies on existing IP laws for protection of the same. This sole dependence on IP laws has been criticised because of inherent conflicts between the nature of the IP and traditional cultural expressions. There is a lack of literature and research on TCEs at the national level. However, there are concerns with respect to copyright generated and associated with these digital formats as the IPR policies of these bodies are either completely absent or lack clarity. Internet and other forms of technological developments can have a significant impact on TCEs and their custodians. There is no on-going effort to study from time to time the proposals in relation to TCEs that are made before the WIPO-IGC (inter-governmental committee) and the negotiations that take place there and provide current inputs to the Indian delegations.

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