-The Indian Express On Monday, the Bengali new year's day, viewers who tuned into Bengali music channel Tara Muzik witnessed a spectacle never seen before on Indian TV. Anchors of the channel and independent artistes called in to present Barsha Baran, a programme to celebrate the new year 1420, wept copiously on camera while announcing that the channel, facing an unprecedented "crisis of survival", was shutting down. Hundreds of viewers commiserated with...

-The Indian Express Quoting from a speech of former British prime minister Tony Blair who compared the media to a “feral beast”, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday recommended the Centre to put in place a “statutory regulatory body” for controlling the electronic media. A bench led by Justice Pradeep Nandarajog rejected the idea of “self-regulation” by the broadcasters, underlining that the absence of state intervention on its own was no guarantee...

-Live Mint I&B minister raises prospect of independent broadcasting authority, says govt may be forced to set up ratings system Information and broadcasting (I&B) minister Manish Tewari on Friday raised the prospect of an independent broadcasting authority and said the government may be forced to set up a ratings system unless the industry took steps to put in place a credible method of ranking television programmes, in a series of statements that...

-The Hindu The Election Commission on Wednesday said that paid news was a very "complex problem" and it had taken the issue seriously to ensure a level-playing field to all political parties and candidates in the elections to the Legislative Assembly on May 5. Addressing a media workshop on electoral process here, Director-General at the Election Commission, Akshay Rout, said: "Paid news is a complex issue and it had disturbed the political...

-Tehelka A public issue is not truly public unless Markandey Katju has passed judgement. Rahul Kotiyal and Ajachi Chakrabarti stand downwind "Journalists" writes Markandey Katju, with little sense of irony, "comment on everything under the sun." He goes on to say that when the shoe is on the other foot, when someone comments on journalism, it is misconstrued as an attack on press freedom. That when he announces he is appointing a...