THE NECESSARY STEPS THAT SHOULD BE TAKEN TO PREVENT FOREIGN CONTROL OF INDIAN MEDIA
“A pen is mightier than a sword”
Freedom of the press is enshrined as a Fundamental Right under Article 19(1) of the Indian Constitution but this freedom is not absolute and is accompanied by reasonable restrictions. In the coming decades, with the evolution of technologies and change in the foreign and domestic policies of India, the situation demands an increasing need for regulating Indian media to prevent it from foreign control and influence.
The rapid globalization and increasing technological penetration in India have led to a massive explosion in the growth and interconnectedness of the journalism sector. Media has a huge role to play in a developing country where the literacy rate is very low and citizens of the country are vulnerable to the plethora of information flowing through these media houses. Foreign players; including both the State and private organizations and persons can use the vulnerabilities of Indian citizens to influence them culturally, socially, and politically. Privatization done by the Indian government has led to the emergence of many private media houses which are simply profit-making corporations and hence can be easily lured by foreign entities. This is where the Indian government needs to step in to prevent foreign influence over Indian media.
Instead of new steps to be taken into account for preventing foreign influence, the government needs to focus on strengthening the already existing provisions that are currently in place. The Foreign Direct Investment Rules, 2016 laid down the caps, entry route, and other conditions applicable to the foreign investment in-flow into the corporations registered in India which includes all the media houses. FDI up to 26% is allowed through the government-approved route for the houses publishing newspapers and periodicals dealing with news and current affairs. The rules also mention the licensing requirements by the media houses receiving foreign investments and funds. It also talks about the renewal of the license which would be dependent upon the entity complying with the conditions mentioned in the license. The rules also mention other rules which strengthen the regulation of government over these entities such as the majority of directors on the board of the company, the chief executive officer, chief security officer, and the chief officer in charge of the technical network operations must be Indian citizens or Indian citizens resident in India and, in compliance with like conditions, may require security vetting or clearance regularly by the government.
All these regulations mentioned under the 2016 rules are key aspects of the regulation of these media houses and through the constant checking of the sources of funding received by them, supervision of the directors by constant monitoring and vetting would allow the government to prevent foreign influence over Indian media. The licensing renewal should be held to more scrutiny as it would act as a deterrent to these entities for working in an accountable manner. The rules of MIB regulating foreign TV channels also present an interesting aspect providing for the regulation and preventing influence. It states that “no news or current affairs channel shall be permitted to be downlinked if it does not carry any advertisements aimed at Indian viewers, is not designed specifically for Indian audiences, is a standard international channel, and has been permitted to be telecast in the country of its uplinking by the regulatory authority of that country.” It also helps in regulating the content of these channels which could influence the viewers of these channels and hence needs to be tightly regulated.
These stricter regulations do meet with the scrutiny from the groups advocating for liberal rights and freedom of the press. But the government needs to strike a balance between the freedom of the press and the reasonable restrictions applied to them and constantly reassure the citizens of its benefits to win their trust.
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