INS voices against hardening Govt policy on freedom of the media

Bangalore, Sep 18: The Indian Newspaper Society today opposed legislative initiatives of the government against the media and said it posed a threat to the freedom of media to report, inform and educate.

In his presidential address to the 67th AGM of INS here, Outgoing President Jacob Mathew said some of the initiatives considered by the Government appear to be undemocratic. ''A threat to the freedom of media was a ''serious threat to our economic viability'' he added.

Seeking the media to forge ahead with an astute understanding of the industry he said INS had taken up extensively with the political and administrative leadership in defense of these freedoms.

Referring to the draft Broadcast Services Regulation Bill envisaging setting up of a Broadcast Regulatory Authority empowered to administer content code and also empowering the government to restrict cross media holdings of media enterprises, he said in a democratic society content in the media should be subject to self regulation only. There were sufficient framework of laws in the country to ensure that the freedoms guaranteed by the Indian constitution were not misused by the media.

On proposed restrictions on cross media holdings, he said newspaper enterprises have made large investments in broadcast media, in which the investment market had also taken a significant position. ''These investments cannot be jeopardised'' he said adding that the newspaper enterprise provide maturity and expertise to the broadcast media for ensuring their orderly growth.

UNI