[cr-india] "No news is bad news" (op-ed piece by Ram Bhat in The Hindu, 22 Feb)

[sajan venniyoor]

*No news is bad
news<http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/no-news-is-bad-news/article4439564.ece>
*
Ramnath Bhat | The Hindu | 22 Feb 2013

*Regulating content on community radio is detrimental to its efforts to
engage with local communities*

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MoIB) organised the 3rd
National Community Radio Sammelan from February 9 to 11 to celebrate a
decade of community radio. The celebrations were cut short when Secretary
to MoIB Uday Kumar Varma confirmed that community radio stations would not
be allowed to broadcast news for some time to come. As a stopgap measure,
he offered community radio stations the permission to re-transmit unedited
news from All India Radio (AIR). The refusal of the government to allow
broadcast of original news on community radio is a serious step backward in
our journey towards freedom of speech and expression.

At different points in time, the government has cited reasons, both
technological and political, to justify this prohibition on news. All
reasons seem to point out to only one thing — the government does not trust
its own people.

It may seem bizarre to many that while media barons like Rupert Murdoch are
free to broadcast news, marginalised communities across the country cannot
be trusted with news. It cannot be coincidence that the only two sectors in
the media which are not allowed news are the two non-state analogue
terrestrial media, i.e. private FM radio and community radio. The other
analogue terrestrial media in the country are stations of Doordarshan and
AIR.

Analogue terrestrial media implies localisation of content. The content is
transmitted only to areas surrounding the transmitter, and coverage depends
on strength of transmitter and height of antenna. Community radio stations
operate at 100 watts with antennae placed at 30 metres height. One can
safely assume that community radio stations will cover a 15 to 20 km
radius, making it impossible for government to monitor content on a daily
basis.

The desperate attempt to monitor all media cannot be a justification to
prevent freedom of speech. The television sector is a telling example to
prove this point. In spite of spending crores of rupees on the newly set-up
Electronic Media Monitoring Centre, the government is able to monitor only
350 television channels, whereas in reality there are more than 700
channels operational in India.

Policy guidelines for community radio are framed in terms of development of
local communities. It is perhaps the only policy document where the
government does not stop at regulatory compliance but also attempts to
prescribe what kinds of programming should be broadcast.

Community radio cannot and should not be restricted to broadcasting
government advertisements and information about government schemes. It is
equally, if not more, important for these radio stations to engage with
local governments and promote transparency, accountability. Further, the
task of community radio is cut out when they are required to deal with
caste, class and gender prejudices within their own communities.

(Ramnath Bhat is vice-president, Community Radio Forum, India.)

*Source:
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/no-news-is-bad-news/article4439564.ece
*
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