New Delhi: Pitching for self regulation by the media, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday said that great responsibility comes with freedom and flagged issues like paid news, trial by media and fake sting operations as matters which have to be dealt with.
He also said that as Communication and Information Technology Minister he is against excessive use of provisions in the IT Act to curb the freedom of social media.
Inaugurating national consultation on Media Law organised jointly by the Law Commission and the National Law University, Delhi, the minister said he personally feels that self regulation by the media was the best way to go about functioning.
"As far as the legal architecture is concerned, as far as my view is concerned, I am very clear. Self regulation should be the mode. When I say self regulation, it is not an off-the-cuff remark. It carries a lot of responsibility, it carries a lot of meaning," he said.
He said that the media will have to take care of issues like paid news, fake sting operations which are used to further vested interests and trail by media. Prasad said for the NDA government, the independence of media is "non negotiable" and those in the political class should realise that media has a right to criticise, condemn and even advice. The minister said he was also not against media lampooning politicians.
Terming the trend of paid news as "sickening", he asked the media to "correct" the malice. On the issue of right to privacy, he said the media has not yet found a "bridge" between its rights and a person's right to privacy.
Referring to media trial, Prasad said every person has a right to fair trial. On the use of Section 66A of the IT Act, he said any clampdown should be cleared by a committee and the IT Secretary and it should be used sparingly.
Under section 66A of the IT Act, sending offensive or menacing messages through electronic communication service and sending false messages to cheat, mislead or deceive people or to cause annoyance to them is punishable.
He, however, said while Article 19 (1) of the Constitution defines right to speech and expression, Article 19 (2) describes reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right can be imposed by the government in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity, defamation or incitement to an offence.
Speaking on the occasion, Law Commission Chairman Justice (Retd) AP Shah media has played a key role in uncovering the truth and giving people a voice. But at the same time, he flagged issues like paid news, fake sting operations and breach of privacy as "new challenges" for the media.
Later, participating in a panel discussion on self regulation Vs statutory regulation, veteran journalist N Ram said media regulators cannot have senior editors as its members as it defeats the very Independence of the body. He said 'The Hindu' newspaper has followed the 'Guardian' model of adopting self regulation by appointing a "news ombudsman" or "reader's editor".
Ram said he was against statutory regulation. Former Supreme Court judge Justice RV Raveendran, who heads the News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA), said the debate should be on the extent and manner in which media should be regulated.
He agreed that the NBSA has not worked to the extent it was expected to. He said out of 180 dedicated news channels, only 60 were members of the body. "How to convince non members to listen to the body and make them follow the regulations was a challenge," he said. Journalist Ravish Kumar said while there is a debate on regulating media, the issue that editors are changed after the change in ownership has not been discussed.
He also questioned regulations for blogs and Youtube channels being run by politicians. Columnist Vanita Kohli Khandekar said media is like an ecosystem. "You cannot look at one thing and expect other issues to fall in place," she said emphasising looking at the issue of media in totality.
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