After severe criticism over not holding consultations with the digital media publishers before bringing in the new IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, the Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar held a meeting with members of the Digital News Publishers Association.
Industry representatives at the meeting included those from India Today , Dainik Bhaskar , Hindustan Times , Indian Express, Times of India, ABP, Eenadu, Dainik Jagran and Lokmat . The digital news outlets Wire and Newsminute , who have filed a petition in the Delhi High Court challenging these laws, were not invited for this discussion. There was also no word from the Ministry on whether there will be further rounds of discussions.
As per a statement released by the Ministry, Mr. Javadekar reiterated at the meeting that the new rules placed certain responsibilities on digital news publishers. These include adherence to Code of Ethics such as the norms of journalistic conduct framed by the Press Council of India and the Programme Code under the Cable Television Network Act. The digital news publishers also have to provide a three-tier grievance redressal mechanism like the Over The Top (OTT) platforms. First and second tier would be the digital news publishers and self-regulatory bodies constituted by them.
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Mr Javadekar on earlier occasions had claimed that currently the Ministry has no data on various news portals. With the new rules, the digital news publishers would also be required to furnish some basic information to the Ministry in a simple form which is being finalised, the Minister said. Mr Javadekar reiterated that these rules are only to make it a level playing field since the print media and TV already have regulatory bodies.
The representatives of media houses who were called to Thursday’s meeting informed the Minister that they already follow the regulatory protocol laid down by PCI and Cable Television Network Act, since content is shared between the digital and print platforms. They felt that they should be treated differently than those news publishers who are only on the digital platform.