Aiswarya Lakshmi V.M.
“The people will believe what the media tells them they believe” - George Orwell.
Media is often a powerful tool to influence the way a society thinks and acts. Hence, it is essential for some amount of State intervention and regulation. This regulation should be in such a manner that it does not infringe upon the freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under Art.19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India. The Who and How of few forms of media’s regulation is discussed herein.
Cinema:
The Union Government has the power to regulate Cinema [under Entry 60 of List I of Schedule VII] and the State Government has limited power of regulating Motion Pictures [under Entry 33 of List II of Schedule VII. Cinema is regulated under the Cinematograph Act of 1952. The Central Board of Film Certification [CBFC] is the regulatory body established under this Act to issue certification and regulate cinema. However in the case of K. A. Abbas v. Union of India, the Supreme Court allowed the CBFC to censor scenes that morally healthy cannot view or read. As a word of caution, it also said that censorship must make a substantial allowance in favour of freedom, thus leaving a vast area for creative art to interpret life and society.
The following are the certifications issued by CBFC:
Television:
Television has different content ranging from News, Entertainment, Advertisement to Movies. Predominantly it falls under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Each kind of program is regulated under separate legislation.The following table illustrates the various regulating guidelines for various programs.
OTT Platforms:
OTT (Over The Top) platforms like Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hotstar, Voot, Zee5 do not have any government regulation as of now. They are self-regulated under the Online Curated Content Providers Self Regulation Code under the aegis of the IAMAI (Internet And Mobile Association of India). The recent increase in OTT viewing has led to loggerheads between the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Ministry of Information and Technology, and the Central Board of Film Certification with regard to jurisdiction.
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