Make self regulation more inclusive and robust - Manish Tewari.

 

Make self regulation more inclusive and robust - Manish Tewari.

Mumbai / May 25, 2013,

Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting Manish Tewari has called for a robust self regulation regime in the country, to keep pace with changing media environment. "Content regulation in the media space is not going to come out of political executive, but will come out of the judicial process.  Make self regulation more inclusive and robust to keep out  judicial intervention" he said, while speaking at the Red Ink Awards function of the Press Club, Mumbai this evening.

Manish Tewari said "with exponential growth in the media space, a paradigm shift has taken place, wherein regulations have to keep pace with changing technologies and has to be universal." Elaborating further, he said there was a need for constant introspection so that the self regulation process could be taken forward.

Mr Tewari said the social media has reshaped the media today and in effect, there are over 8 crore broadcasters in the form of micro-bloggers, twitter and Facebook users.    The Minister  went on to  mention  the Paradox of Short Fuse, which pits proliferating instruments of dissemination against growing intolerance. He said such a situation creates conflict between Article 19 guaranteeing the freedom of speech

and reasonable restrictions to be imposed on it.

Mr Tewari  also observed that the revenue models of Indian media organizations have not been well constructed, which in turn have led to the issues of paid news, private treaties, tyranny of TRPs and sensationalism.

Veteran journalist N Ram, participating in a panel discussion observed that reasonable restrictions were often becoming unreasonable restrictions and jurisdiction of criminal contempt was posing a serious challenge to fearless journalism.

Arnab Goswami, moderating the discussion, said media had the right to defend its turf from frequent judicial interventions.

The Governor of Maharashtra, Mr K Sankaranarayanan conferred the Red Ink Life Time Achievement Awards upon veteran journalists Kuldeep Nayyar and N Ram. The award for Kuldeep Nayyar was received by his wife Ms Bharti Nayyar.

Red Ink Awards for excellence in Journalism were also presented to 19 other journalists from various cities in various categories.  The award winners were chosen by a jury comprising leading professionals in the fields of news, media, films and advertising.

Press Club, Mumbai has branded the Red Ink Awards to underline a sharper focus on news and its presentation in correct perspective.

(List of Awardees at www.pibmumbai.gov.in)