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Prasar Bharati Act to be reviewed

The concept of Prasar Bharati was born as a backlash against emergency. But it was only in 1997 that the act became operational. By that time a large number of private channels had started. If Prasar Bharati is to be continued, it should run with an optimism mix between credibility of medium and accountability of those who run it. There is a need of a review but the parameter of the review will have to be decided.

Information & Broadcasting minister Arun Jaitley

The new minister for Information and Broadcasting, Arun Jaitley, feels that there is a need for a legislative and regulatory mechanism to keep pace with technological development.

While speaking during a press-meet organised by Press Club of India, Jaitley said that the state owned medium should be one which reflects the government’s perception, it should not, however, be its mouthpiece.

He pointed out that the concept of Prasar Bharati was born as a backlash against emergency. But it was only in 1997 that the act became operational. By that time a large number of private channels had started. He said if Prasar Bharati is to be continued, it should run with an optimism mix between credibility of medium and accountability of those who run it.

“There is a need of a review but the parameter of the review will have to be decided,” he said.

He said that a comprehensive re-look of the provision of the Prasar Bharati Act and Broadcast Bill are necessary. He also assured that the new government will also re-examine the feature of the Cable Network (Regularing) Act with a view to counter the impact of programmes that are obscene or threaten national security.

He pointed out that cable TV business is a large segment of industry which has been functioning without a regulatory authority. “It cannot be allowed to go unchecked. It is like companies functioning with SEBI (Security and Exchange Board of India). But the methodology of control mechanism is yet to be worked out,” he said.

Talking about Doordarshan, Jaitley said that quality of Doordarshan’s programmes should be improved and this would be his top priority. As a public broadcaster, DD would continue to get budgetary support but ultimately it will have to be self sufficient. He also informed that the corrupt practices in DD would be dealt severely and all dealings of DD would be transparent.

Government would take necessary steps to implement the special package for strengthening DD’s transmission network to counter Pakistan’s propaganda.

He also announced the lifting of the ban on PTV and imposing a ban of Russian pornographic channel, TB6.

Amitabh Parashar