Regulating media - I
(http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/regulating-media-i/article4041225.ece)
In India, the crisis came with the communal mobilisation in the run-up
to the desecration of the Babri Masjid in 1992. A section of the media
became the mouthpiece for bigotry and carried a series of inflammatory
articles. The Union Government sought the opinion of the Press Council
of India regarding “whether a procedure can be laid down to ensure that
newspapers/magazines censured by the Press Council for breach of
guidelines in connection with communal writings, can be deprived of
incentives from government, such as advertisements et cetera, and
whether the Press Council would be in a position to suggest what action
should be taken when it holds a newspaper/magazine guilty of breach of
guidelines.”
Regulating media — 2
(http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/regulating-media-2/article4064954.ece)
The 1990s also witnessed the power of the “paparazzi.”
The death of Princess Diana was solely blamed on the media. Her brother,
Earl Spencer, said: “I always believed the press would kill her in the
end. But not even I could imagine that they would take such a direct
hand in her death as seems to be the case.” Former editor of The New York Times
and a celebrity columnist for that paper A.M. Rosenthal wrote:
“Someday, I believe, the words of Earl Spencer will hang in the private
offices of publishers, network chiefs, and print and electronic editors
worthy of any respect or trust.” Then came the new charge against the
media that it was in the tight, vice-like grip of spin doctors. The
unparalleled power wielded by Alastair Campbell, also described as the
super spin doctor, as the Director of Communications and Strategy for
Prime Minister Tony Blair, further eroded the gloss on media. The Teflon
coat was slowly wearing away.
Regulating media – 3
(http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/regulating-media-3/article4088170.ece)
Jeffrey Dvorkin, Executive Director, Organization of News Ombudsmen, raises rather an alarming question: “The sacred independence of the press and the media in general has been an unquestioned attribute of free societies. Democracy is based on that independence and along with it, the duty of care of news organizations to have the freedom to write and broadcast what they deem appropriate without either government approval or condemnation. But what if, in a digital age, that assumption connecting journalism to democracy, is just outmoded, if not plain wrong?”
Regulating media - 4
(http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/regulating-media-4/article4109063.ece)
Justice Katju irked broadcasters when he wanted them to come under the
purview of the PCI, and the print media when he sought more powers to
the PCI. In a resolution the PCI asked “the Union government to amend
the Press Council Act, 1978, by bringing the electronic media within the
purview of the Act, renaming it as The Media Council, and giving it
more powers.” He also infuriated a section of the digital media
activists as the resolution explicitly demanded that social media too
come under the ambit of the PCI.
5) Regulating Media-5
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/regulating-media-5/article4133848.ece
5) Regulating Media-5
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/regulating-media-5/article4133848.ece
There is a context to Justice Markandey Katju’s demand for more powers
to the Press Council of India (PCI) and to widen its ambit to include
electronic media and social media. The 2009 general election witnessed a
unique convergence of vested interests — undue political advantage due
to unscrupulous reporting practice — a phenomenon called paid news. The
PCI formed a two-member subcommittee comprising Paranjoy Guha Thakurta
and K. Sreenivas Reddy to examine the full import of the paid news
scandal.
6) Regulating Media-6
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/regulating-media-6/article4156925.ece
Since 2006 the Readers’ Editor of this newspaper has
been functioning as a self-regulator. The readers and the editors of
this newspaper were unequivocal in endorsing its role in upholding
cardinal principles of good journalism. It is worth reiterating some of
the key elements that govern the Readers’ Editor. “By virtue of the
terms of appointment, he or she is independent of the Editor, the
editorial personnel, and the editorial process. The key objectives of
this appointment are ‘to institutionalise the practice of
self-regulation, accountability, and transparency; to create a new
visible framework to improve accuracy, verification, and standards in
the newspaper; and to strengthen bonds between the newspaper and its
millions of print platform and online readers’.” If this system is
extended across all media houses, I am sure the chorus to rein in media
will lose its bite.
7) N. Ram`s Essay: Sharing the Best and the Worst: The Indian news media in a global context (http://www.thehindu.com/news/resources/sharing-the-best-and-the-worst-the-indian-news-media-in-a-global-context/article3971672.ece)
The Indian press is more than two centuries old. It has always been a
highly political press. Its strengths have largely been shaped by its
historical experience and, in particular, by its association with the
freedom struggle as well as movements for social emancipation, reform,
and amelioration.The long struggle for independence; the sharp
ideological and political divides; controversies and battles over social
reform; radical and revolutionary aspirations and movements;
compromising as well as fighting tendencies; and the competition between
self-serving and public service visions of journalism –these have all
found reflection in the character and performance of the Indian press
over the truly long term(Ram 2000: 242).Even in the pre-Independence
context, the press learned to act like a player in the major league
political and socio-economic arena, despite its well-known limitations
in terms of reach in society, financial viability, professional
training, and entrepreneurial and management capabilities.This rich
history accounts for the seriousness, relevance, and public-spirited
orientation of the press at its best.
8)Alan Rusbridger, Editor, The Guardian delivers the 2011 Orwell lecture – video
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/video/2011/nov/11/alan-rusbridger-orwell-lecture-2011-video
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