Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Censorship in the Press and Media


Censorship in the Press

With the return of the emergency regime in 1978, the threats against the freedom of the Press grew more ominous than ever. In a case involving a newspaper the supreme court ruled that the freedom of the Press rests on the assumption that widest possible dissemination of information from diverse and antagonistic sources is essential to the welfare of the public. 

The newsprints advisory committee of the Central Government once considered proposals to deny newsprint to papers indulging in anti – national activities”. As also to those found guilty by a court of law or censured by the Press Council for publishing material which is obscene or against good taste or which advocates violence, spreads ill- feeling between various communities or is likely to endanger the unity and integrity and defense of the country. Such a move would kill what ever semblance of  Press freedom we have today, for as the editors’ guild of india’s response indicates, the Powers sought by the Government are omnibus in nature and these- called defenses are vaguely defined’. As though the monopolistic control in newsprint were not enough. the Government has licensed all import of printing machinery, and prohibited any direct subscription to a foreign news agency. It has to be channeled through the Government.

Yet another lever of control exercised tactfully by Government is the issue of advertisements by the directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP)—a body the undertakes visual publicity campaigns on behalf of various ministries departments and autonomous bodies. Besides state Governments too have their own publicity departments. Medium and small newspapers are beholden to these bodies for very often their very sustenance depends on the largesse from them.

Volume 2 of the Annual Report of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting provides exhaustive list of the amount paid each year by the DAVP to the big, medium and small newspapers for buying space for advertising. Below is a small news papers for buying space for advertising. Below is a sample of the revenue earned by some well – known dailies in 1996:

Quantum of advertisements Issued to Some Indian Dailies by the DAVP

Publication
Edition
Space
(Col.Cm)
Amt.
Earned
(in Rs. Million)
1
The Time of India
Bombay
56,473
13,409,183
2
The Indian Express
Bombay
66,595
3,950,493
3
Kesari
Pune
20,025
588,398
4
Sakal
Pune
10,089
1,125,303
5
The Shillong Times
Shillong
34,537
734,510,
6
Anand Bazar Patrika
Calcutta
22,216
6,465,287
7
Thanthi
Madras
50,039
3,424,614
8
Malayala Manorama
Trivendrum
18,444
1,522,879
9
Rajasthan Patrika
Jaipur
872
9,639,
10
Nav Bharat
Jabalpur
21,218
800,320
(Source: Compiled from Annual Report1996 – 97,Vol. II, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting)

Moreover, the threats of pre–censorship, of confiscation printed copies and seizure of printing Presses, and of the cutting off of electricity to newspaper establishments – all reminiscent of the dark days of the emergency – are not imaginary fears. The suppression of the Asli Bharat and some other publications that reported the Moradabad riots, and of the Assam Press during the agitations in that state, are still fresh in freedom –levers’ minds. The Assam high court’s striking down of the Assam’s state special powers Press act, under which pre–censorship was clamped, demonstrates how the only protection Press freedom in India can hope to get is from the courts. Or, from a vigilant public, as the withdrawal of he Bihar Press bill (1982) demonstrates. Far more worrying than the external threats of censorship are the internal threats from proprietors, senior loyalists and news editors who would rather play safe than endanger their own interprets, both professional and material, ‘ self–censorship’ in journalism, not so much out of concern for public welfare and interest , but rather out of a desire to curry favour with local politicians, advertisers and other lobbyists, has iced to a decline in the credibility of the Press. In Maharashtra, for instance, it is a regular practice for journalists to act as the public relation agents of sugar barons, builders and local politicians.





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