NEW DELHI: The debate over media regulation intensified today with Vice President Hamid Ansari and Press Council Chief Markandey Katju saying self-regulation has failed and that the media must be placed under the proposed Lokpal or some other regulatory authority.
Ansari and Katju utilised the occasion of the National Press Day celebrations to drive home the point in their speeches that self-regulation is no regulation.
The Vice President also rued the absence of active media watch groups engaged in objective analyses of the media, discerning prejudices and latent biases, and subjecting the media to a “dose of their own medicine.”
Referring to the objections on having any media regulation, Ansari questioned if the constitutional safeguards on freedom of speech be used to evade regulation of the commercial persona of media corporates and groups. “Where does public interest end and private interest begin?”
In the absence of any other government regulator, he said, the focus has shifted to self-regulation by media organisations, individually or collectively, which he added is yet to succeed as “it is neither universal nor enforceable”.
“Individual self-regulation has also failed due to personal predilection and the prevailing of personal interest over public interest,” he said.
Katju on his part was dismissive about the self-regulatory mechanism proposed by the broadcast media, insisting they must come under some regulatory authority which could be of its choice. The former Supreme Court judge said if TV channels did not want to come under the Press Council they should choose another body like the proposed Lokpal. Katju however made it clear he was against use of “harsh measures” against the media.
“Powers must be there, either with me, I said I am not so fond of power and you mention which regulatory authority whom you want to come under because you dont like the Press Council of India because the current Chairman is a very undesirable and wicked person. You can say under which regulatory body you want to come under like the Lokpal,” Katju said. Justice(retd) Katju said if media says they will be self-regulated then the same principle may apply for politicians and bureaucrats too. “There has to be some regulatory mechanism. You can’t say there will be self-regulation, which means nothing. You alone are saints and everyone are sinners? Then what is this paid news, what is (Niira) Radia tapes and what is all these?” he asked. He said he was against use of “harsh measures” against media. “I have always been against (using) harsh measures against media. Because media people are intellectuals. They should be persuaded if they go wrong. We should hold discussions with them. That is the way of resolving things in a democracy,” the PCI chairman said. (PTI)