Proposed Broadcasting Bill may result in greater government control of broadcast, digital media: NWMI

The Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI) raises concerns about the proposed Broadcasting Services Bill, warning of potential control and over-regulation of media, and urges exhaustive consultations with stakeholders.

Raising concerns about the proposed Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, 2023, the Network of Women in Media, India (NWMI), has said, in a submission to the Information & Broadcasting Ministry, that the Bill may potentially result in control and over-regulation of the broadcast and digital media.

The NWMI urged the government to refrain from going ahead with the Bill without holding exhaustive consultations with all stakeholders. It warned that the Bill could drastically alter the media landscape in the country.

In a statement, the NWMI said that it had made a detailed submission to the Union government regarding the proposed Bill that was recently published by the Ministry for the purpose of receiving feedback from the public and stakeholders.

“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... The government bestows inordinate powers on itself through this Bill to control the country’s entertainment and news media,” it said.

The organisation said: “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 in mature democracies everywhere and will irreparably damage the free press, free speech and creative freedom in India.”

“The draft Bill’s vaguely worded provisions, including its definition of ‘news and current affairs programmes’, arm it with the potential to cover individual YouTubers, the social media accounts of professional journalists and even citizen journalists. The Bill places requirements and burdens on news organisations that, while cumbersome for large broadcasting networks, could potentially put small news operators out of business,” said the NWMI.

The Bill, it said, mentioned a Programme Code and an Advertising Code “as may be prescribed”.