oppn parties Regulating Online Media: Involve All Stakeholders

News Snippets

  • Karnataka HC has ruled that a harassment complaint lodged by a wife after receiving a divorce notice from the husband loses its weight in the eye of the law and quashed the FIR filed by a women against her husband and in-laws
  • 35 people killed in renewed violence in Manipur, 30 of them militants
  • Manipur boils on the eve of Home minister Amit Shah's visit as militants strike, vandalize MLAs home and loot armouries
  • Kerala chief minister P Vijayan says Centre's decision to cut the borrowing limit of the state is 'sadistic' and shows its negative mentality towards the state's development
  • Rahul Gandhi recieves passport, set to travel to the US
  • Centre said that the march-to-Parliament by wrestlers was a 'deliberate provocation'
  • Prime Minister Modi inaugurates the new Parliament building, calls it 'cradle of empowerment'
  • Mamata Banerjee will most likely attend the opposition meet called by Nitish Kumar in Patna
  • With container prices, which were on fire, crashing by 40% YoY, importers and exporters in India heaved a sigh of relief as the burden of high freight costs will reduce
  • In an aim to push lenders to manage risks better after the US financial crisis, the RBI has reviewed bond value norms
  • 14 countries under the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), including India, entered into an agreement to boost supply chains and counter China
  • Malaysia Cup badminton- H S Prannoy wins the title beating Weng Hong Yang of China 21-19,13-21, 21-18
  • Yashasvi Jaiswal replaces Ruturaj gaikwad as stand-by opener for the WTC final
  • IPL final washed out due to rain, rescheduled for today, the reserve day
  • In a shameful incident, Delhi Police manhandled international wrestlers when they sought to march peacefully to the new Parliament building to highlight their greivances, detained some top wrestlers
Fifth IPL title for Chennai as Ravindra Jadeja hits 10 off last two balls to spoil the party for Gujarat Titans
oppn parties
Regulating Online Media: Involve All Stakeholders

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2018-04-06 15:10:48

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
As I&B minister Smriti Irani had promised during the ‘fake news’ order fiasco that the government would clamp down on mushrooming websites masquerading as news portals, it has set up a committee to examine how the online media space can be regulated. Although no official circular has been released, a ‘leaked’ copy is available on the internet (as reported by NDTV). It is a step in the right direction. But as usual, the government is going about the task in a partisan manner.

Take a look at the people who will man the committee. Secretaries from the ministries of I&B, law, home, electronics and IT, the department of industrial policy and promotion, along with the chief executive of MyGov, and representatives of the Press Council of India, News Broadcasters Association and Indian Broadcasters Federation are going to have a place in the committee. But where is the representation from the online media space? Shouldn’t a committee that seeks to regulate them have their representatives in the committee that will frame the rules?

There is no doubt that online news portals, opinion sites, educational or entertainment websites or any other websites that disseminate information that shapes public opinion need to be regulated like the print and broadcast media. This is necessary because in the absence of any pre-licensing and almost negligible cost of setting up, any and every one is jumping on the online bandwagon. Further, with penetration of internet increasing manifold and mobile devices becoming cheaper, the potential reach of these websites is immense. So is their potential to cause mischief through dissemination of 'fake’ news and slanted opinions.

Having recognized this, it also needs to be remembered that the government already has a draconian law to regulate the internet space in the form of the Information Technology Act (IT Act). As of now, this law does not differentiate between an individual and an organization. Anyone who is found to violate the provisions can be hauled up. Further, technology makes it easy for the government to pinpoint the source that uploaded the offending piece of news.

Hence, when online media is regulated, the first requirement after issuing licenses would be to take it out of the ambit of the IT Act. If it will be regulated by another set of rules or a new law, then the draconian provisions of the IT Act should not be applicable to such licensed entities. They should also be governed by the laws that are applicable to print and broadcast media. All other facilities, duties and responsibilities, including accreditation, should be at par with those applicable to the print and broadcasting media.

One is sure that no one running a digital media website would resent being brought under regulation provided this is done transparently, in consultation with all stakeholders and in a non-partisan manner. The government, by excluding digital media representatives from the committee, has made its intention clear. Rules for regulation of the digital media space will be made by bureaucrats who will care little about freedom of the press when drafting them. All digital media websites should strongly protest this.

the writer can be contacted at sunilgarodia@gmail.com