The government may introduce a common code of conduct for all TV channels along with handing over more responsibilities to the Press Council of India(PCI), said Information and Broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar on Monday.
Addressing a webinar organised by the Press Council of India(PCI) on the ‘Role of media during the covid-19 pandemic and its impact on media’ on National Press Day, the minister acknowledged the long need of a regulatory body for TV channels while adding that a decision to bring a code of conduct will soon be materialised.
“Freedom of press is being discussed again today and I said that the way press freedom is being attacked, that is not good… Press Council of India (PCI) is another mechanism of self-regulation. Though the head is appointed by the government, it has representatives of press owners, editors, journalists, photographers and parliamentarians. But people are demanding that the PCI should be given more powers. That is also being considered,” he said.
Talking about TV news, he said that “there is no Press Council like system for TV channels, so there should be self-regulation for that” and mentioned that “there is one institution, and anyone can complain to them and they even punish the erring channels”. National Broadcasting Standards Authority is the self-regulatory body for TV news channels.
“But there are many channels that are not even members of that,” Javadekar said, adding that “they have no restrictions”. “Such a system cannot exist. People are suggesting us that we should also come up with a code of conduct which is common for all channels. We have not taken a decision, but we are considering it as well.”
The minister also added that efforts to provide a regulatory framework for the Over the Top (OTT) platforms, like Netflix and Amazon Prime, were also onboard as the streaming platforms was largely unregulated.
Talking about enhancing power of PCI, Javadekar said, “Some people are demanding that there should be more powers for the Press Council. This is being considered.”
Earlier, at the same webinar, Vice President Venkiah Naidu had also shed some light on the importance of press in India.
“Press in India has always been the vanguard of protecting and strengthening the foundations of democracy” and mentioned that “robust free and vibrant media is as important as independent judiciary in consolidating democracy and strengthening constitutional rule of law,” he had said.
