Sting operations fine, but don't sting pvt life, says I

New Delhi, JulY 18 (UNI) Announcing that the revised content code was ready and a Broadcasting Regulation Bill was also expected soon, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry today said it had no intention of bringing any law to ban sting operations.

''The Government does not intend to meddle with the methodology of news gathering,'' Secretary, Information and Broadcasting Ministry Asha Swaroop said delivering the keynote address at the Indian News Television Summit here.

However, she said, a sting operation should not violate the private life of an individual. This she was stressing as recently there have been cases of such reporting which served no public purpose, added Ms Swaroop.

She called upon broadcasters to bring in self-discipline.

Trying to allay their fears over the proposed regulator in the coming Bill, the secretary said though the government would like TV channels to regulate themselves to the maximum extent possible, an independent regulator was needed to correct things when broadcasters do not do so on their own.

Ms Swaroop said the revised content code was ready and the government had tried to incorporate the suggestions of various stakeholders as much as possible.

A presentation of the revised draft would be made to representaives of broadcasters on July 20, she added.

The Secretary said the media should not shock and mislead, but should aim at accuracy and impartiality. It should see that the factual news was not drowned in commentary.

She also called upon broadcasters to spare some airtime for social messaging, and bring out positive stories.

People's success in their work for the benefit of sociey can also form front page stuff, she said.

In this connection, she referred to President APJ Abdul Kalam's speech at the Ramnath Goenka Awards function three days back in which he had told how he was surprised to find a Tel Aviv newspaper in 1999 front paging the agricultural success of a farmer from Russia settled in a desert in Israel instead of the news about the Hamas attack on Lebanon killing many soldiers.

Later, participating in a debate on 'News Channels--the Thirst For News, How Far is too Far', Broadcasting Content Director in the Ministry Praveen Kumar said the move to have a content code and a broadcast regulator was in the interest of the country's broadcast industry itself as it was in a nascent stage.

All over the world, countries had some sort of regulator, so it should not be taken as something undemocratic, he added.

About the content code, Mr Kumar said it would only subserve the contemporary standard.

He also advised the industry to do some introspection and review the stuff they were giving to their readers.

Others who participated in the debate were CNN-IBN Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai, NDTV India Managing Editor Debang, Sahara News Head Prabhat Dabral, TV Today Editorial Director Q W Naqvi and India TV CEO Chinamani Rao. The debate was moderated by India Editor, BBC World Service Sanjeev Srivastava.

The Summit had been organised by the Indian Television. com.

UNI