[Commons-Law] India's Information & Broadcasting Ministry Nixes On-screen Smoking Ban

[Hasit seth]

Hi,

India's information and broadcasting ministry (read propaganda
machine) has opposed health ministry's quirky proposal to ban
depiction of smoking in films.  The minister Jaipal Reddy pleads all
kinds of reasons - technical, creative freedom, practical
difficulties, etc - EXCEPT Freedom of Speech which is a constitutional
guarantee.
Hasit
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Source: Economictimes.com online edition.

I & B ministry nixes on-screen smoking ban 
BHASKAR ROY

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 2005 01:41:01 AM]
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NEW DELHI: So smoking is not being forbidden on screen after all. I&B
ministry has finally written to health ministry, pleading its
inability to enforce the proposed tobacco ban in films and on TV on
the ground that it is neither feasible nor entirely desirable.

In a detailed note sent by a senior I&B official to his health
counterpart, it has been pointed out that the proposal to ban any
smoking scene either in films or during live television coverage of an
event is not practical due to technical reasons and the issue of
creative freedom.

The note which bears the hallmark of I&B minister S Jaipal Reddy's
colourful rhetoric, observes that the road to hell is often paved with
good intentions.

Sent on Monday, it rejects health minister Anbumani Ramadoss's
proposal for a total ban on the ground that there is no way smoking
scenes in old films can be erased. The ministry regrets its inability
to "take retrospective view" of the issue by undertaking an exercise
to rub off such scenes from films already made.

It points out that such a step would be both practically and
technically difficult to implement. The I&B note also says that it is
impossible to remove any smoking visual during live coverage of
events. The effect of live telecast would be lost if time is taken to
edit out images of smoking.