Thursday 21 June 2007

Content Regulations Do We Need It? Do We Need It?

A very familiar term for all of us! Every second day you may come across this phrase. It will not sound unusual, if you hear that the government wants to regulate the Television content. Government has been trying to put a check on the television programming since a long time. Starting off with just one or two channels, entry of foreign channels in India since 1991-92 gradually raised the number and today we have access to around 400 channels. A strong need for content regulation was there as the TV content had become absolutely open without any restrictions. All types of obscenity, nudity and violence could be viewed that was strongly affecting the children and other age groups in a negative sense. But the government was helpless in putting a restriction on the channels because till the year 2005, there were no regulations for TV. The first came in 1995 in the form of Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 but it was inadequate to control the content being shown on Cable TV. The Cable TV Act talked about a programming and advertising code which was merely a list of kind of programmes not permitted on Doordarshan. Infact, the responsibility of implementing these codes was left to the cable operators who had no judgmental powers to know whether a programme was adhering to these codes or not. The government had no say in restricting the transmission of channels because all the broadcasters beamed channels from foreign soils. The uplinking and downlinking regulations did not exist in the country which made the situation even tougher. 
Since long, due to political reasons the bill could not be tabled in the Parliament. As the number of channels kept on increasing, Government realized that the foremost step should be towards checking the foreign channels who were broadcasting the same content meant for the Western World. And thus it decided to bring out the uplinking and downlinking policies, following which it made mandatory for all news channels to be uplinked from Indian soil. The downlinking policy was also implemented in May 2006 and since the last year only those channels are being beamed in India who have taken permission from the government for showing their channels publicly in the Indian territory. Now all of them are under the government control. 
The regulatory process got a boost when the Broadcasting regulatory responsibility was given to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) as an interim measure till the Broadcasting Authority of India was formed. As the effect of the regulations was witnessed in India, the government became more serious to bring piece meal regulations as passing the entire bill would have been a long process. TRAI got the responsibility of access and distribution. And job of drafting the content regulations was assigned to a sub-group formed in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. 
Content regulation is a significant issue and for this reason it is being widely talked since several years in the broadcasting industry. The situation became serious after a school teacher in Mumbai filed a PIL in the Mumbai High Court seeking ban of adult content on television to avoid its ill effects on children and youth. The latest development in this field after several meetings held by the group is the self regulatory measure. 
The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has issued a draft that lays down the Self Regulation Guidelines which will help in guiding the Broadcasting Service Provider (BSP) in offering their programming services in India. The basic underlying principle of these guidelines is that the responsibility of complying with the provisions of the Certification Rules vests with the BSP. 
These guidelines aim the following: 
(1)To guide the BSP to block all programmes that mislead or lead to harm, particularly to the vulnerable. 
(2)Programmes must be scheduled keeping in mind the target audience. 
(3)BSPs needs to ensure that all content is dealt vigilantly taking into consideration the impact of that content on the minors. 
The Ministry has great plans for the adult content as it wants to relax the restriction put upon adult programming after 8 PM since it is assumed that after 8 PM parents are expected to have a control on what their children watch. 
A Self Regulation Mechanism is planned to be set up that is to operate at two levels - 
BSP Level and Industry Level 
According to this mechanism each BSP has to comply with the Certification Rules prescribed under Cable TV Network (Regulation) Act 1995 and have its own internal mechanism for this. It may appoint one or more Content Auditors for this purpose who would also be the contact point for any feedback or complaint from the public regarding content violations. The auditor should examine public complaints against content & guide BSP in that regard. However, the BSP also must be well aware about content related complaints. The Chief Editor must have complete knowledge about any violation of Certification Rules that can be then rectified as he is the person who will be finally responsible for self regulation. In case of live or interactive programme, if public or guests participate in it then they must be briefed about the certification norms so that there is no violation of the regulations by the participants. 
The Central Government or Broadcasting Authority of India (BRAI) may authorize industry-segment level organizations to setup their respective Consumer Complaint Committees (CCCs) to provide self regulation mechanism to the industry & listeners against alleged violations of Certification Rules. The CCCs to be set up will be different for each area. 
a)In relation to broadcast of films, it is proposed to harmonize the Certification Guidelines with certification rules of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) under Cable Television Networks Act so that uniform norms are applied to these two media. 
b)For broadcast of advertisements, a Content Auditor must be appointed by the BSP to preview each advertisement to certify that its content complies with Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) code. 
c)In relation to content of various programmes five types of CCCs will be set up. 
(1)The Indian Broadcasting Foundation that represents Television Channel Broadcasters has proposed to set up the CCC for it. 
(2)For the content of Cable Operators, the Cable Operators Federation of India (COFI) may be asked to set up a self regulatory body on the lines of CCC of ASCI. 
(3)The Central Government may invite The Association of Radio Operators of India (AROI) to set up self regulatory body on lines of CCC of ASCI for the Private FM Radio segments. 
(4)With more and more Community Radio Stations (CRS) being licensed, Government may encourage Community Radio Forum (CRF) to set up the CCC. 
(5)Prasar Bharti will have to set up a formal complaint redressal mechanism as statutory Broadcasting Council of India has not been set up so far. 
All CCC's notified by the Central Government or BRAI shall have following powers & functions in respect of complaints on content between consumers & BSP. 
(a)To receive complaints regarding content broadcast by a BSP. 
(b)To requisition tapes of any programmes or advertisement as deemed necessary. 
(c)To consider the complaints & settle them within 30 days of receipt of appeal. 
(d)If concerned CCC finds that BSP is at default, it may; direct the BSP not to telecast objectionable content or direct it to make suitable edits. It may also direct it to broadcast an apology for the same. 
(e) It should also send a copy of the order passed by it to the complainant, BSP, BRAI and post it on the website. 
Complaint Redressal Procedure
Any person or a group of persons may either individually or jointly file a complaint against content before the CCC or BSP. 
In case a BSP receives a complaint it must be disposed off with in one week and consequently the BSP may either take the particular programme off air or modify its content for future. It should also tender an apology for the same. In case a BSP rejects the complaint, an aggrieved complainant can go to CCC, challenging the decision of BSP. 
Either BSP or complainant, who is unsatisfied by the order of CCC, may prefer an appeal before BRAI. At last, a BSP or a complainant, aggrieved by the order of BRAI can also make an appeal before FCAT (Film Certification Appellate Tribunal). 
The Certification Guidelines lay a major stress on Content Categorization and Content Scheduling. For this the BSP has to categorize the content into various categories i.e. 'U', 'U/A' or PG, 'A' and 'S'. Along with this the BSP has to take care that the programmes are telecasted according to the timings prescribed for each category by the Ministry. The BSP is also entitled to obtain licenses for all films including foreign films, music videos etc and for all programmes or advertisements containing promotional materials related to tobacco, liquor etc. from the CBFC. 
Apart from this, the Ministry has issued guidelines covering every aspect of the content. Following are the parameters of content that have been dealt with. 
.Crime and Violence
• Sex, Obscenity and Nudity
• Horror and Occult
• Drugs, Smoking, Tobacco, Solvents and Alcohol
• Libel, Slander and Defamation
• Religion and Community
• Harm and Offence
• Advertisements
All these aspects have been divided into three categories i.e. 'U', 'U/A' and 'A' and directions for the same have been laid down.

Source:
http://cablequest.org/articles/regulations/item/1390-content-regulations-do-we-need-it-do-we-need-it.htmlSource: http://cablequest.org/articles/regulations/item/1390-content-regulations-do-we-need-it-do-we-need-it.html

No comments:

Post a Comment

Can Infrastructure be Shared in Broadcasting Sector

Broadcasting Industry today has grown to an enormous size in the country. Each Distribution Platform Operator (DPO) retransmits on an ave...