- Wednesday, March 12, 2025
The earlier draft drew criticism from media bodies such as DigiPub and the Editors Guild of India, which claimed they were not consulted
By: Shajil Kumar
THE GOVERNMENT has said it will hold further consultations for preparing a fresh draft of the broadcasting bill, amid concerns in some quarters over restrictions on social and digital media space in the proposed law.
The 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 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 on Monday (12).
“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 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.
Media concern
Media bodies had earlier voiced concern on the provisions of the draft broadcasting services bill and contended that it sought to create a multi-layered legal system to regulate and censor content in the digital space.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi last week, Ritu Kapur, general secretary of DigiPub News India Foundation, an organisation representing more than 90 digital news publishers, said it had reached out to the government to allow it to be part of the consultation process on the draft legislation but had received no response yet.
She said the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has held closed-door consultations with selective stakeholders, and larger discussions with digital media organisations and associations of civil society have so far not taken place.
“The Broadcasting Services Bill is one more step in creating a multi-layered legal system to regulate, control, monitor and censor content in the country which started with the IT Rules in 2021,” Anant Nath, president of the Editors Guild of India, said.
The draft bill, circulated selectively by the government, is reported to have proposed wide-ranging regulations on independent news creators on social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram and X, expanding its remit from OTT content and digital news content. (PTI)
