It is widely recognized that freedom of speech and expression is integral to democracy. There can be no real democracy without citizens who are well informed. The media has traditionally played a very important role in the working of democracies, through the creation of a public sphere where issues of importance to a political community and are discussed and debated. A democratic society depends upon an informed populace making political choices. In large and complex societies, public participation in political processes is already largely limited to occasional expressions of opinion and protests, and the periodic selection of representatives through the vote. For such weak participation to be effective, the public has to know what is going on, and what options they need to weigh, debate, and act upon. This is where the media plays a crucial role. We are of the opinion that the Bill in its current form may have adverse impacts on democratic processes and the free functioning of media and does little to ensure that citizens have access to better and diverse information. The Bill as it now stands, will give the Government the power to censor almost anything it arbitrarily deems undesirable with out checks and balances. The Bill, for instance, gives too overarching a role for the Central Government, from laying down policy, to nominating/selecting members of the BRAI, and the Public Service Broadcasting Council. The identity, as well as division of responsibility, and labour between the Central Government, the Broadcast Regulatory Authority of India (BRAI) is not clear. There is no evidence of any intention to set up an independent autonomous, professionally competent, regulatory organization in the Broadcast sector. According to the provisions of this Bill, the regulator will be allegedly autonomous, but it is not clear what powers it will have. The Bill gives the Central Government, powers under an itemized list of 14 functions which cover what a regulator should be doing, that includes terms and conditions of licenses, power to prescribe license fees, policy and certification guidelines and so on. Moreover, in sections 5 and 6 of the Bill, an overreaching power has been granted to the Central Government to censor the media during time of emergency, or any other 'exceptional circumstances.' This power far exceeds the constitutional limitation on the freedom of speech and expression. As experience of arbitrary press censorship during the Emergency has shown us, such powers are liable to be grossly misused. The Bill provides for a negligible role for the public and civil society organisations though the bill is being drafted in the name of the public. The Bill provides for a Public Service Broadcasting Council, but it is the Government which decides "from time to time" what obligations public service broadcasters should follow. The Bill also cursorily touches upon the topic of cross-media restrictions on ownership. It is important to have regulations to restrict the concentrations of media ownership and cross-media ownership leading to monopolies, but an independent authority, and not the Central government should be in-charge. Moreover, the Bill does not really address cross-media ownership issues, which generally aim to ensure that media companies cannot establish monopolies or achieve market dominance across various forms of media - e.g., print/newspapers, radio and television. The provisions of the Bill seem to focus exclusively on monopoly/dominance within the broadcast sector, particularly vis-à-vis content providers and network service providers. It is not even clear whether these restrictions apply across television and radio - "channels" are mentioned without identifying them further. The Content Certification Rules, 2007 explores new ground in the Broadcasting sector by proposing self-regulation. However, the provisions contain a number of vague terms that can be easily used to restrict freedom of expression on flimsy grounds especially in these days of rampant moral policing and the growing tendency of various sections of the audience to be shocked and offended. The Content Code lays down guidelines for what type of programmes are allowed to be broadcast based on detailed but illogical categorization of what type of violence, sex, nudity, horror, and decency can be shown. If the provisions of the proposed Content Code are given effect, broadcasters will not be able to transmit programmes that violate the large number of restrictions laid down in the Code. For instance, the Code disallows programmes that show "perverted and socially unacceptable practices", programmes that "incite or encourage viewers to obscene behaviour", content that "portray women as primarily being driven by sexual impulses", programmes that show "prolonged or passionate kissing on the lips", content that promotes the use of illegal or narcotic drugs and tobacco", and even programmes dealing with exorcism and occult. The recent episode when the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting banned two underwear advertisements for being "indecent' is an indicator of the danger of putting in place such guidelines for content of television programming. This submission of Alternative Law forum seeks to examine the implications of the proposed Broadcast Bill and Code, and has incorporated changes. These changes seek to protect the freedom of speech and expression of the media while at the same time recognizing that the media has a responsibility to regulate their content and put in place a system to deal with complaints. The changes that we have suggested also try to minimize any conflict with already existing laws to avoid unnecessary litigation. See The Reprecentation of ALF at http://www.altlawforum.org/ADVOCACY_CAMPAIGNS/Final%20Submission%20to%20MIB.doc --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
