News Broadcasters Assn writes to Dasmunsi for more time

New Delhi, Aug 4 (UNI) Disputing the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting's claim that enough time has been given to stakeholders to debate and discuss the draft Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill and Content Code, representatives of TV news channels have demanded more time to give their final view on the subject.

''In fact the debate has just begun and we have asked Minister Priya Ranjan Das Munsi to keep the Bill in abeyance for 12 months more,'' general secretary of the recently launched News Broadcasters Association (NBA) Annie Joseph told UNI.

She said the NBA had written a letter to the Minister underscoring the need for more discussion and indepth discussion and public debate on the provisions of the Bill as they were going to have far reaching impact on the way the media would function.

The Ministry has only last month to put the draft Bill and the Content code on its website and asked the broadcasters to send their response within 15 days(by August 5).

Mr Dasmunsi had a few days back said that the Bill had been in discussion for about a year, which was time enough for the stakeholders to reach a final view.

However, Ms Joseph said the broadcasters feel that the discussions that were held did not result in a comprehensive examination of the repurcussions of the various provisions of he Bill.

''We maintain that the issues invloved were very complicated, especially those relating to the content code, so it would only be in the interest of the freedom of the media that such an important legislation was not brought in haste,'' she said.

The main objection of the broadcasters is to the restrictions on the cross media ownership, and the content code as a whole. They have also objections to the nature and composition of the Broadcast Regulatory Authority of India, but the opposition is not so severe as in the case of the other two.

The broadcasters are dead against restrictions on cross-media ownership.

The industry representatives feel that in these times when every media organisation is putting in massive investment in other media, it was too late for the government to bring in cross media restrictions, and such a measure will stiffle the growth of the Industry,' said an industry representative.

Several media houses have already acquired stakes in print, radio, television, and the Internet, as well as cable operations.

As for content code, most news channels have flatly rejected the idea. They maintain that existing laws under IPC were sufficient to regulate the contents.

UNI