New Delhi: Amid concerns in some quarters including the opposition parties over restrictions on social and digital media space in the proposed law, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Monday said it will hold further consultations for preparing a fresh draft of the broadcasting bill.
The second draft Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, circulated by the government among a few stakeholders, drew criticism from media bodies such as DigiPub and the Editors Guild of India which claimed that digital media organisations and civil society associations were not consulted on the move.
The Congress party later joined the protest with its media and publicity department head Pawan Khera alleging that the Bill was a direct threat to freedom of speech and the independent media and claimed that it would pave the way for "excessive surveillance" online.
“Ministry is holding a series of consultations with the stakeholders on the draft bill. Further additional time is being provided to solicit comments/ suggestions till 15th October 2024,” the Information and Broadcasting Ministry said in a post on X.
“A fresh draft will be published after detailed consultations,” the ministry said.
The ministry said it was working on a draft Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill.
“The draft Bill was placed in the public domain on 10.11.2023 along with the explanatory notes for comments of the stakeholders and the general public,” the ministry said.
It said in response, multiple recommendations, comments and suggestions were received including from various Associations.
A version of the draft bill sought to club online content creators with OTT and digital news broadcasters, bringing them under the ambit of the ministry’s Content and Advertisement Code.
The provisions would have made it mandatory for individual online content creators to appoint a grievance redressal officer and a content evaluation committee once they crossed a certain number of subscribers.
Contrary to the general belief, news broadcasters are not favouring the Bill in its current form as it gives the government the right to conduct inspections without prior permission or notification on broadcasting networks, broadcasting service providers, and other entities covered by the bill, such as content creators, among others, BestMediaInfo.com reported last week.
It was alleged that the news broadcasters lobbied and supported the draft bill as they were losing out to independent content creators who are proposed to be categorised as “digital news broadcasters”.
The general feeling that independent content creators are driving the narrative could possibly be the case with some claiming they played a significant role in 2024 election results.
However, the industry stakeholders are of the opinion that the narratives should be countered with facts.
"You cannot control the narrative, especially in the era of digital and social media," said multiple sources at television news broadcasters.
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