Till a few years ago, the final arbiter of what is and is not permissible programming was the Union information & broadcasting ministry. In this scrupulous act of discernment, it was aided by the central monitoring services: college students would be appointed as monitors to watch television programmes and listen to radio shows round the clock and report to the ministry. Any channel or radio show that transgressed the programme...

In this Idea Exchange moderated by Senior Editor Archna Shukla, I&B minister Ambika Soni speaks about self-regulation by the media, empowering the Press Council of India and the Congress party’s stand on corruption Archna Shukla: There is a growing perception that the government is unhappy with media criticism. The editor of a leading English daily publicly claimed that government advertisements have been stopped to his publication. Is the government being vindictive? I have...

-Economic and Political Weekly   The media does need to look at its nexus with business interests; injured innocence will not do. Recent remarks by the new chair of the Press Council of India, Justice (retired) M katju, have sparked off some-thing of a debate in the media. katju’s comments on the intellectual capabilities of journalists and his low opinion of their abilities have predictably led to indignant protestations by media bodies. But...

-The Hindu   An interaction scheduled between Press Council of India chairman Justice Markandey katju and journalists on Saturday was cancelled after disagreements on the format of the event. Justice katju, who has been the focus of attention for his recent controversial comments on the quality of journalists and the regulation of the news media, had agreed to make a speech at the Press Club, following which the floor was to be thrown...

Justice Markandey katju has done his own mission, supervising the responsible functioning of the media, a disservice. By criticising the media through sweeping generalisations and with extreme naïvete, he has got its back up, provoking a sharp reaction from the Editors Guild instead of a willingness to talk and sort things out. A lifetime spent in issuing obiter dicta has ill-equipped Justice katju in the communication skills needed to carry...