Consultations on for regulation of news content on television: Ambika Soni - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni on Monday said that that her ministry has initiated wide ranging consultations with stakeholders for arriving at a consensus on the issue of regulating the content of television news channels. Soni added that it would also try to create an independent autonomous body to look into all aspects of the broadcasting sector. The Ministry has already held consultations with Indian Broadcasting Foundation, Multi System Operator (MSO) Alliance, News Broadcasters Association (NBA), Broadcast Editors Association (BEA) and the Cable Operators Federation of India (COFI). The Government had earlier constituted a committee for reviewing the Programme and Advertising Code (Content Code) prescribed under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 and rules framed there under, which has submitted its report and made recommendations in the form of draft 'Self-regulation Guidelines for the Broadcasting Sector (2008)'. The Ministry had also put up a proposal to set up a Broadcasting Regulatory Authority of India by enactment of legislation for ensuring orderly growth of broadcasting services in 2007.