The Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI), has made a detailed submission to the Central Government regarding the proposed Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill 2023 that was published by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to get feedback from the public and all stake-holders.
The Broadcasting Bill seeks to replace the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act of 1995, with the stated objective of providing a comprehensive regulatory regime for all forms of broadcasting content from television to streaming platforms. In its letter to the Ministry, NWMI pointed out that the government bestows inordinate powers on itself through this Bill to control the country’s entertainment and news media.
This intent to control and over-regulate is not in the interests of a healthy, independent media or a thriving culture of entertainment. It goes against the very foundations of media freedom inmature democracies everywhere and will irreparably damage the free press, free speech and creative freedom in India, NWMI added.
Since this Bill could potentially drastically alter the media landscape in India, NWMI has exhorted the government to not, under any circumstances, proceed with it without exhaustivediscussions among the key stake-holders involved. Considering its far-reaching implications, NWMI said the haste with which the Bill has been drafted and announced to the public, and the limited time provided for responses, is unacceptable.
In its clause-by-clause analysis submitted to the government, NWMI has flagged several concerns which includes that, "the Bill shows a lack of understanding not just of what constitutes news, but also of the functioning of news organisations when it seeks to club them with creators of entertainment content, especially considering the provision to subject the work of newspersons to Content Evaluation Committees (CECs)."
The Bill places unreasonable curbs on news and entertainment organisations that will inevitably hamper their functioning at a very fundamental level and, in particular, make it financially unviable for small, independent news set-ups to operate, NWMI added.