Venkaiah for single media watchdog

Venkaiah for single media watchdog

Context

• Self-regulation is not working and there is growing need for a single watchdog for the television and print media, Vice-President, Press Council of India, Venkaiah Naidu said on the occasion of National Press Day.

The necessity of a watchdog

• There is need for a single watchdog body for both print and television media, however, regulation should not become strangulation.
• The watchdog is necessary to guarantee that political and business interests of the owners of media houses did not affect news.
• News gets increasingly coloured with views that are consistent with the agenda of the management.
• Barring a few honorable exceptions, the press behaved like a handmaiden of the government, therefore a watchdog is a must.

Credibility affected

• Credibility is becoming a rare commodity. One does not know what to believe.
• For a democracy to thrive, free flow of information is essential. Democracy needs information and dissent but it does not mean disintegration.