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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | “Civil society must push for self-regulation by media”

“Civil society must push for self-regulation by media”

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published Published on Apr 6, 2010   modified Modified on Apr 6, 2010

Concerned over disturbing trends in the media, including commercialisation and trivialisation of content, corporatisation of the sector and the phenomenon of paid news, the call for a “media watch group” was made at a round table discussion on “Markets, Media and Democracy” here on Tuesday.

“There is a need for a public auditing of the media, declaration of the revenue earned and checking on fraudulent news. It would be done best if media professionals were to do it themselves,” said Amiya Bagchi, Director, Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata, which organised the two-day event with UNICEF.

Civil society must pressure the media to enforce this self-regulation and scrutiny, he added. “Nobody wants to muzzle or police the media.” The participants felt there should be no external control on the media.

However, the media as a fourth pillar of democracy must be accountable to the people, said Sharmila Tagore, Chairman of the Censor Board of Film Certification and a UNICEF goodwill ambassador.

On being asked if it was possible to monitor the quality of news in privately owned newspapers and television channels, especially since they were driven by consumer demand, Ms. Tagore said that “give them what they want” is “a drug-peddler's argument.”

Media reform

From media freedom, the discourse had shifted to media reform and justice, she said.

The question of external regulation in the form of legislation was also discussed. A statement issued at the conclusion of the conference said: “The State must set the framework for cross media restrictions that place reasonable limits on corporate expansion and on the trends of monopoly and oligopoly in the media sector.”

“One of the crises in the news media is to strike a balance between entertainment and information on what is actually happening on ground. For example, the current Maoist situation has arisen because it was not effectively reported about for so many years,” said A. K. Shiva Kumar, adviser to UNICEF.


The Hindu, 7 April, 2010, http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/07/stories/2010040765001300.htm
 

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