'I&B min has set up electronic media monitoring centre to check violation of programme, advertising codes'

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has set up an Electronic Media Monitoring Centre to monitor the content of private TV channels with reference to the violation of the programme and advertising codes, the government told Lok Sabha today.

Responding to a question on whether fake news on a large scale was being telecast by various television channels, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore said as per the existing regulatory framework, content telecast on private satellite channels is regulated according to the Cable Television Networks Act, 1995, and the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994.

"The Act does not provide for pre-censorship of any programmes and advertisements telecast on such TV channels. However, it prescribes that all programmes and and advertisements telecast on such TV channels should be in conformity with the prescribed Programme Code and Advertising Code enshrined in the aforesaid Act and the rules framed there under," he said in his written reply.

 

The said codes contain a wide range of parameters to regulate programmes and advertisements including the content considered to be fake news on TV channels, Rathore said.

"Rule 6 1(d) (of the specific programme code) provides that no programme should be carried in the cable service which contains anything obscene, defamatory, deliberate, false and suggestive innuendos and half-truths," he said.

The ministry has set up Electronic Media Monitoring Centre (EMMC) to monitor the content of private TV channels with reference to the violation of Programme and Advertising Codes, Rathore said.

An inter-ministerial committee (IMC) has also been set up in the ministry to take suo moto cognizance or look into specific complaints regarding violation of the Programme and Advertising Codes by private TV channels, Rathore said.

The IMC has representatives from the ministries of Home Affairs, Defence, External Affairs, Law, Women and Child Development, Health and Family Welfare, Consumer Affairs, Information and Broadcasting and a representative from the industry in Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), the minister said.

To another question on the whether the government proposes to strengthen the digital transmitters for broadcast in border areas, Rathore said Prasar Bharati has informed that with regards to Doodarshan, 11 Digital High Power Transmitters have been approved for border areas.