Channel for Parliament proceedings planned: Somnath Chatterjee

Plans are afoot to introduce a separate channel for telecasting Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha proceedings, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said today.

"We are looking at the possibility of having a separate channel for telecasting proceedings of the Lok Sabha or Sajya Sabha directly," the Speaker said at a seminar on 'Assembly Reporting' organised by the Press Club, Kolkata.

Saying that several private channels have evinced interest in directly telecasting the Parliamentary proceedings, Chatterjee pointed out that similar arrangements in some other countries were presently being studied.

The speaker said he would soon hold a meeting in this regard with the minister for information and broadcasting.

Pointing out that he had proposed a telecast of the depositions before the parliamentary committees, Chattarjee said his proposal has not found unanimous support among the members of Parliament. "But why not? After all, the people have a right to know."

Lamenting that media coverage of Parliament was concerned more with statements outside the house than the proceedings inside, Chatterjee said he has convened a meeting of editors and senior journalists in Delhi on November 30 to exchange ideas on how Parliament and the media can work together to serve the interest of the people and take democracy forward.

West Bengal Assembly speaker Hasim Abdul Halim said both legislators and the media should deliver their respective responsibilities in the interest of the people.

While admitting that there had been a qualitative fall in the standard of debate within the Assembly, he said this was because more people from the grassroots were entering the house as members.

"In the old days, we had rajas (kings) and zamindars (landowners) becoming MLAs. Now there are more farmers, workers and primary school teachers. This has an impact on the quality of the debate," he said adding "Journalists also need to be trained although these days their level of education is higher than what used to be earlier.''

Pointing out that quality debates inside the house were often ignored by the media, he said, "I know that the problem is not with you reporters. You can only report, but cannot guarantee what will be published. You cannot decide policy. It is the owners who do it."

The leader of the Opposition, Pankaj Banerjee, said in a democracy, the roles of parliamentarians, legislators and the media is complementary. "MPs and MLAs should be serious about their jobs as must be reporters.''

Banerjee, a senior Trinamool Congress leader, said while the opposition should be constructive in its criticism of the government, the latter, on its part, should be open to criticisms by the opposition.

West Bengal minister for parliamentary affairs prabodh Chandra Sinha also spoke on the occasion.

The seminar was dedicated to the memory of noted parliamentarian and CPI leader Hiren Mukherjee.