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...

Two stories on two days, both from Delhi and both shocking in their revelations. Both involved child abuse. The first story was about a university professor on the run, allegedly after it came to light that he had employed a 10-year-old boy in his house, and worse, regularly beat him. The second story was even more mind-numbing in its details. Sanjana (name changed to protect identity), a 14-year-old girl, is...

-The Pioneer   Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said on Monday that though the decision-making process had slowed down after the RTI Act came into effect, the legislation had indeed facilitated transparency in governance. “Everybody has become extremely cautious (because of the RTI Act). There is no doubt that the decision-making has slowed down. In that transition period, we are moving towards much more transparent governance which will pay us dividends in future,”...

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...

-ANI Right To Information (RTI) crusader and veteran social activist Anna Hazare's key aide Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said the Media needed to refocus on the Lokpal Bill rather than on allegations and mudslinging incidents. Kejriwal said it was imperative that everyone, including the Media, worked towards the common goal of bringing a strong Lokpal Bill. "Its important that the Media gets back on track and works towards the target. These allegations and...