Code Of Ethics & Broadcasting Standards

This is the text of much talked about self regulatory code framed by the News Broadcasters Association which is to be implemented by a nine member authority headed by Justice J.S. Verma Former Chief Justice of India.

The Constitution of India guarantees to all its citizens, the right to free speech, which right has been liberally construed by our Supreme Court as encompassing not just the freedom of press, but also the right of the citizen to be informed of matters of public moment and concern.

PARENTING MEDIA NBA Formed Disputes Redressal Authority

What do NDTV, Times Now, CNN-IBN, Zee, Sun TV, ETV etc. to name a few, have in common? They all belong to the media fraternity and are members of News Broadcasters association (NBA). Presently, out of hundred news channels across the country only thirty news channels are members of NBA. And Disputes Redressal Authority , the newly launched body, that has paved the way of the electronic media towards self-regulation, is the brainchild of News Broadcasters Association.

The media as we know, plays significant role in a democracy. It is considered to be the fourth pillar on which a democratic country stands. The television, radio and print media are the most popular and effective means of dissemination of information and communication in the masses. Thus it is the most effective tool to motivate and guide the people, to show the direction, towards right or wrong, towards progression or destruction.

The Interoperability Challenge When Transitioning To A File-based Workflow

The broadcast industry today is in the throes of change. Broadcasters are faced with the need to transition from standard- to high-definition services and, as they begin to do so, they are finding themselves faced with a host of new challenges. Not least of these challenges is the need to move from their traditional tape-based infrastructures to today’s file-based workflow.

There are many reasons for the change that is happening. First is the inevitable fact that archived tape content will degrade over time; companies that do not change to a file-based system will ultimately face losing valuable content.

Self-Regulations Not Adequate

News Broadcaster's Association has announced a complaint redressal authority headed by an ex Chief Justice of India. This is their step towards self regulations as they have been suggesting to the government from time to time. On the surface this looks very fine but whether this will succeed or remain on paper is highly doubtful. The very fact that a complainant has to pay Rs.1000/- before he complains will dissuade him to do so. This complaint redressal only appears to be for the rich and they have many better ways to do that. Not only the above, the recent strictures and comments by a Supreme Court Bench questioning the government while admonishing the broadcasters for dishing out unabated obscenity and violence in a PIL filed by an NGO indicates that self regulations are not adequate for the Indian broadcasters. Our industry is not yet matured enough to regulate themselves. Increasing competition in an uncertain market makes them go beyond the ethics in garnering TRPs. Airtel has finally launched their DTH service. Their late entry has invited a lot of competition from the existing operators, particularly from Reliance's Big TV who as per market reports tried to hijack their launch ad campaign. Even the other two operators Tata Sky and Dish TV are commencing their DVR/PVR services to increase their value addition. The competition in the DTH market will more be on technical grounds now. The next technology to be expected is high definition. Inspite of all the free buys and plethora of on demand movies offered by all the DTH players, it is heartening to know that the set-top-box penetration in the CAS notified areas increased by 13%. It is unfortunate that we are intentionally scuttling the growth of Cable TV by not implementing CAS in the whole country while allowing other technologies to grow. TRAI has released a consultation paper on Cross Media Ownership to give their recommendations to the government.This issue is very relevant as every large company is trying to expand vertically as well as horizontally in all segments of media and entertainment creating huge monopolies. If not curbed now, we will land up with one or two company dominating the scene. The global financial crises are affecting the broadcasting industry too. Post Diwali the condition seems to be getting better. Let us hope for the best. 

November 2008

Saturday, November 01, 2008 -- Radio IIMT 90.4 FM started its Broadcast from Meerut (UP).