The private member’s Bill that Rahul Gandhi’s close aide and Congress MP Meenakshi Natarajan was scheduled to introduce in Parliament last week lays down a draconian set of rules clearly aimed to gag and threaten the media in the name of “protecting national interest”. Called the Print and Electronic Media Standards and Regulation Bill, 2012, it provides for a media regulatory authority — part selected by the I&B minister and three...

While freedom of speech and expression is an individual right, its actualisation often relies on a vast infrastructure of intermediaries. In the offline world, this includes newspapers, television channels, public auditoriums, etc. It is often assumed that the internet has created a more robust public sphere of speech by doing away with many structural barriers to free speech. But the fact of the matter is that even if the internet enables...

-First Post Two different newspapers, and two contrasting views on how to deal with giving brands unpaid publicity. This morning, The Times of India carries a story on a survey which has found Bangalore as scoring the lowest among seven cities in motorist behaviour. This is what The Times of India reports: That the motorists in Bangalore don’t seem to care for pedestrians has been a subject of intense debate for long. The...

-The Telegraph Dispur is determined to launch a “constructive” television channel, stung by the “adverse” coverage of the recent Ulfa bandh during the Prime Minister’s visit by the local electronic media. Chief minister Tarun Gogoi revealed the government’s intention during an interaction with reporters here this afternoon, explaining how most local TV channels had gone overboard with the bandh coverage on April 20. Incidentally, a day later, on April 21, West Bengal chief...

Judicial gag orders are as abhorrent as executive restraints on the media   Some interim orders issued by the courts have restrained publication or comment on certain matters of public importance. Orders imposing judicial censorship on the media have been extremely rare. Except in the rarest of rare cases, judicial “gag orders” are as abhorrent as executive restraints on the media. The changed situation calls for a comment on these judicial orders and...