Govt. forms committee to regulate news portals

Govt. forms committee to regulate news portals

What has happened?

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has instituted a committee to regulate online portals, including news websites, entertainment sites and media aggregators

Who shall be the members of the committee?

The 10-member committee will include

• Secretaries of the departments of Home, Legal Affairs, Electronics and Information and Technology, and Industrial Policy and Promotion
• The CEO of MyGov
• A representative each of the Press Council of India and National Broadcasters’ Association will also be part of the committee

Backdrop

Information and Broadcasting Minister had announced on Twitter that her ministry was working on bringing online news too under regulation mechanism. The ministry has been consulting both National Broadcasters’ Association and Press Council of India for over a month on the issue

Regulation for Print and electronic media

• The content telecast on television channels are regulated in terms of the programme and advertisement codes under the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994
• Similarly, the autonomous body Press Council of India regulates the print media

What is the mandate of the committee?

The committee, broadly, will look at three things

• One is to bring online information dissemination under regulation
• Second is to propose a policy for foreign direct investment in this media
• Third is to look at international best practices on such existing regulatory mechanism