The Indian journalist organizations have termed the proposed Broadcasting Services Bill as a gateway to censorship. According to Kashmir Media Service, the journalist bodies – The National Alliance of Journalists (NAJ), the Delhi Union of Journalists (DUJ), and the Andhra Pradesh Working Journalists Federation (APWJF) join the Network of Women in Media India, (NWMI) and the Editors Guild of India and others in a joint statement said this proposed Bill is a step further to expanding a new era of undeclared censorship and increasing government control over all types of media.
The Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, 2023 comes on the heels of the Telecom Act of 2023, the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, and the IT Amendment Rules, 2023.
According to the statement, the Broadcasting Bill blurs the distinction between journalism and content creation. “The definition of news and current affairs has been deliberately left so broad that all sorts of online media can be controlled through it. It clubs together both broadcast and digital media, although broadcast media includes the big channels while digital news media channels are often small outfits run by one or two persons.”
As an alternative, the journalist outfits say, such a Bill could wait till the formation of a common body like a Media Commission of India comprising experts and stakeholders who could look into all aspects of self-regulation rather than inviting government control.—INP
