India 360: Govt puts TV child-lock?

New Delhi: Advertisers are protesting against a Government ban on AXN channel until March 15. The channel has been banned in the name of good taste, decency and public morality.

The programme that the Ministry of Information and broadcasting found objectionable is called World's Sexiest Advertisements. Advertisers say a ban is far too strong a response and there are other ways the Government could have acted.

In the past, there have been many attempts to ban controversial broadcasting, but the question is, should there be some means of controlling content on television channels?

The question that was being discussed on India 360 was: Should the Government decide what people should see?

On the panel of experts to discuss the issue were senior journalist Madhu Trehan; Former Chairperson of National Commission for Women, Poornima Advani; and Chairwoman and Chief Creative Director of Vyas Giannetti Creative, Preeti Vyas Giannetti.

Do democracies use the ban as an instrument of public morality?

Preeti Vyas Giannetti was of the opinion that there were two issues that needed to be addressed here - the content on the show and the manner in which the Government has imposed the ban.

"The way the ban has been imposed is erratic, random and ad hoc, without taking into account the amount of grief it will cause the industry. Lots of things are riding on these channels. There are brands, huge financial ramifications," she said.

She added that it was unfair to ban the channel especially when shows like Baywatch were not banned. "Some people also thought that these kind of shows were inappropriate for an Indian audience," she said.

She was of the opinion that the ban is was a short-term device and had no long-term vision to it.

BROADCAST BILL
	The Broadcast Bill is to be tabled in Budget Session of Parliament. The consultation paper on the Bill has been issued by the Information & Broadcasting Ministry.
	The Bill is supposed to exercise control over sting operations by the media, saying that sting operations are only to be in public interest. It has accused the media of sensational coverage.
	The Bill says that mediapersons identify themselves to their targets before the sting operation and that the channel broadcasting the sting operation has to justify that it is public interest.
	Phones for sting operations can be tapped only after prior information and identification and an individual or organisation whose privacy is being infringed, can demand that the channel stop the recording or the broadcast.
	Broadcasters will be asked to suspend a programme if considered prejudicial to friendly relations with a foreign country, public order, communal harmony or security of the state.
	There will be severe restrictions on investigative stories. Reporters will have to get prior clearance from the BRAI before investigating an individual or an organisation and the reporter's equipment can be seized if the service provider has breached the content code.
	The draft bill has 16 dos and don'ts for news channels and the Government can inspect, enquire or supervise service providers to ensure compliance with the Bill.
	The Bill has been criticised by various media houses as an attempt to gag the media.

However, Poornima Advani was of the view that the Government had to do something urgently. "A lot of such programmes were passing through and the Government had waited very long. In fact I want to compliment the Government for taking this bold step."

She said that women from villages would come in masses and ask her why such programmes were being shown on television.

"It is very important to control the kind of programmes that come into our homes. Banning a TV channel for two months would be a kind of a deterrent to other channels to think twice before airing such programmes," she added.

Is the ban an effective deterrent?

Madhu Trehan disagreed saying that the ban was not at all effective. "The Information and Broadcasting Ministry and the National Commission for Women should instead be changing the pre-conceived notions of stereotypical men in India, so that men evolve and watch these programmes like all civilised people do and not become raging beasts after watching such shows and go out and rape women."

"Their job is not to execute someone or some channel but to educate people and make people ethically responsible so that they behave in a certain way. The I&B Ministry is being highly irresponsible in banning and not doing anything about making people socially and ethically responsible instead," she stated.

She said that the two Government bodies should use theatre, television and films to which they have access and educate people into becoming more sophisticated rather than banning content on television.

There is as of now, no consensus as to whether self-regulation by the media will actually work or what kind of body can actually regulate television content.

Will the ban help educate and reform the society?

Poornima Advani shot back saying, "There are laws in the country and the people should be aware of this. Section 294 of the penal code - law against obscenity - and the Indecent Representation of Women Act have been introduced in the Parliament after a great deal of lobbying by the women's movement. All these legislations are being violated through the years. I still stand by the ban and I say better late than never."

TELEVISION TALES
The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 clearly stipulates that the Government has the right to block or take action against channels which violate the broadcasting and advertising codes of the country.
Action was taken against a Russian semi-pornographic channel, which was banned by the Government.
India also banned Fashion TV, a cable channel that often shows models wearing skimpy clothes, in February 2002 for vulgarity but the decision was reversed a week later when the channel promised to adhere more closely to Indian sensibilities.

She said that India was more than just about Page 3 citizens. "There are a large number of women who come to us and have been consistently saying that obscenity on television is affecting their family values and their children's values."

To this Madhu Trehan replied that she agreed with women's values and family values, but spanking a channel like this would not work towards solving the problem.

"The Government has to do constructive work. It has to work on attitudes of people, on ethics, on morality in constructive ways. Putting channels into a corner like this is not going to solve the problem in any way," she said.

She added that this move showed that the Government does not trust the common man. "How do you build this trust? Through education and by banning a channel, we are just not going to be able to educate people," Madhu Trehan added.

Preeti Vyas Giannetti agreed with Madhu Trehan saying that the ban would only serve to confuse more. "These bans and fatwas are completely ineffective," she said.

"I see the regular soaps that are running on television channels and look at the kind of behaviour they project. I don't think I would like to have my children emulate any of those Hindi soaps," she added.

Is it fair to penalise a channel for just one show?

"No it's not for it's scaring businesses and sending a wrong signal to the industry as a whole," said Preeti adding, "The industry is always eager to participate with investments and marketing and promotions but this will scare industry people off. Why can't we sit and coin regulations? The industry would love to be a part of a dialogue and contribute to evolving regulations."

She said that the Government should sit with industry representatives and create a forum and a programme for regulation.

All the panelists agreed though that there has to be a long-term vision at work here, looking into the question of public morality.

And though the Government has been harping about obscenity on AXN channel and has deemed fit to impose a ban on it for two months, it's indeed intriguing it has not yet censored the Naga sadhus at the Kumbh mela, who roam around there virtually naked!

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