Broadcasting Regulation Bill 2024- Significance and Concerns- Explained Pointwise

Recently, concerns have been raised by several by the digital creators against the Broadcasting regulation bill 2024. The draft Bill seeks to regulate broadcast of news and current affairs programmes (excluding print news). Such programmes will have to comply with the prescribed programme code and advertisement code.

According to the CSDS Lok-Niti survey, 29% of respondents consume political material every day on digital platforms. However, critics have been raising concerns that the Bill can lead to digital authoritarianism in order to control online narratives.

What are the highlights of the Broadcasting Regulation Bill 2024?

Some of the key features of the Broadcasting Regulation Bill 2024 are mentioned below-

What is the significance of the Broadcasting Regulation Bill 2024?

1. Consolidation and Modernisation- The Bill replaces outdated Cable Television Networks Act, 1995. The Bill adopts a unified, future-focused approach by adapting to the dynamic world of OTT, Digital Media, DTH, IPTV.

2. Promotes ‘ease of doing business’- The bill seeks to promote ‘ease of doing business’ by incorporating provisions for Dispute Resolution mechanism in the broadcasting domain.

3. Further Push to ‘Digital India’- The bill seeks to promotes technological advancement and service evolution in the broadcasting domain, which will give a further push to our goal ‘digital India’.

4. Provides for ‘Right of Way’- The Bill provides for ‘Right of Way’ which would enable cable operators to easily obtain permissions from various local agencies to roll out their network in a new city.

5. Promotes infrastructure sharing- The broadcasters would be benefit from the infrastructure sharing, in the same way as the telecom operators benefited from sharing cellular towers and spectrum.

6. Empowers Broadcasters by providing for self-regulation mechanisms- The Bill provides provisions for the establishment of Content Evaluation Committees which would be a self-certification body of the broadcasters. This would provide autonomy to the broadcasting industry in matters of obtaining certification.

7. Promotes ‘ease of living’- The bill promotes ‘ease of living’ by enhancing the accessibility of broadcasting services for persons with disabilities by promoting the use of subtitles, audio descriptors and sign language.

What are the concerns with the Broadcasting Regulations Bill 2024?

1. Threat of Digital Dictatorship- The Bill expands the scope to classify individual commentators as ‘Digital News Broadcasters‘ and content creators as ‘OTT Broadcasters‘. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting can prescribe and change thresholds for subscribers or users, which, when met, require registration. The Bill increases the Union Government’s command and control over digital media.

2. Additional compliances for online platforms- It establishes a new safe harbor regime independent of the Information Technology Act, 2000. In addition to the IT Rules, 2021, the government can demand registration, enforce censorship, and even require platforms such as YouTube to frame special compliances not only for news channels but also for creators.

3. Issues with the Content Evaluation Committees (CEC)-
a. The government will prescribe the criteria for the constitution of CEC, which raises questions of its independence.
b. The requirement of disclosure of personal details of the members of the CEC to the government and public, is against the Right to Privacy. It also contradicts the provisions of the Digital Personal Data protection legislation.
c. Disclosure of personal details also puts them at risk of physical or online harassment, for approving a content which may offend an individual or a group.

4. Issues with the Broadcast Advisory Council (BAC)- All the members of the proposed Broadcast Advisory Council (BAC) will be nominated by the Centre. Since the BAC will have a final say on censoring content across all broadcasting mediums, government may push for content censorship through BAC.

5. Selective targeting of Journalists- Critics fear that the bill may be misused to selectively target the journalists by the govt, like the IT Rules 2021 are being misused to arrest media personnel.

6. Potential Impact on Minority Communities- There are concerns of misuse of the vague language in the bill for erasure or selective representation of Indian minority communities and promotion of a universal majority identity of India.

7. Conflict of Interest- The bill does not address the conflict of Interest and opaque issues in media regulation, such as the unholy nexus involving cable operators, politicians, entrepreneurs, and broadcasters.

8. Oligopoly in Media Ownership- The unbridled power provided to government officials in the broadcast media regulation may lead to collusion between the government and media houses to create oligopolistic media ownership.

9. Reduced autonomy of OTT platforms- Application of the stringent rules and codes of cable or radio to “OTT” broadcasting services, may increase the financial and compliance burden for OTT broadcasters. This will end up negatively impacting the user experience, choice, and costs borne by the users.

Conclusion and Way Forward

We must also seek to explore these ways for addressing the challenges of the Bill and for better media regulation-

1. Stakeholder Consultation- Extensive Consultations with industry experts, content creators, broadcasters, and the public can give extensive feedback to the government regarding their concerns on the Bill.

2. Promotion of Media Literacy- Investment in media literacy programs to educate the public about responsible media consumption like Singapore and Australia.

3. Responsible Media- The media must uphold it’s duty of being the 4th pillar of the Indian democracy and ensure that journalistic ethics are not compromised.

4. Ensuring the independence of the CEC and BAC- The government must nominate members from the broadcast industry and from civil society to keep the CEC and BAC independent and impartial.