The Hindu : National : Private news broadcasters set up redressal authority

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Private news broadcasters set up redressal authority

Special Correspondent

As a measure of self-regulation

Authority to be headed by former CJI J.S. Verma
All nine members will hold office for two years

NEW DELHI: Under pressure from various quarters, News Broadcasters Association (NBA) – a collective of 14 private broadcasters representing 30 news channels – on Thursday set up the News Broadcasting Standards Disputes Redressal Authority as a measure of self-regulation.

The nine-member authority will be headed by the former Chief Justice of India (CJI), J.S. Verma. Four of the other members will be editors from different news channels and the remaining four from a category titled ‘eminent persons’ drawn from different walks of life. All nine members will hold office for two years.

The four members who make up the ‘eminent persons’ category are historian Ramachandra Guha, former NASSCOM president Kiran Karnik, sociologist Dipankar Gupta and economist Nitin Desai. The four editors included in this self-regulation mechanism are Vinod Kapri of India TV, B.V. Rao of Zee News, Milin Khandekar of Star News and Arnab Goswami of Times Now.

Ahead of setting up the authority, the NBA had adopted a Code of Ethics & Broadcasting Standards for itself. This code also came into effect from Thursday.

Briefing mediapersons, Mr. Justice Verma was optimistic of television channels abiding by the code. “Since the television channels have agreed to the code, I am assuming that everyone will follow it. If not, I will leave,” he said, when asked how he was optimistic of self-regulation working in India when it has failed in most parts of the world. “Just because self-regulation has not succeeded in other places does not mean that we should not try it,” the former CJI said. In his view, social sanction and peer pressure is more effective than legal sanction.

Asked whether the fee of Rs. 1,000 per complaint would not act as a deterrent, Mr. Justice Verma said it was important to keep away frivolous complaints. The News Broadcasting Standards (Disputes Redressal) Regulations mandate that every complainant should pay Rs. 1,000 towards the functioning of the authority, which has the power to impose costs of up to Rs. 10,000 in favour of or against complainants.

The complainant has to first seek redressal from the broadcaster. Once with the authority, the attempt will be to address a complaint within three months. If the complaint pertains to a channel which has its representation on the authority among the four editor members, then that individual will have to step aside for that particular case. All cases can be decided only if five members including the chairman are present. And, among the members, both categories have to be equally represented.

The authority has been set up in response to renewed efforts by the government to put in place a regulatory framework for broadcasters through legislation. This was stiffly resisted by the media in general and television channels in particular. In turn, NBA – set up over a year ago – offered to come up with its own self-regulation guidelines to ensure broadcasting standards.

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