Draft Broadcast Bill is blueprint for censorship

It’s nearly Christmas, and as ‘headlines of the year’ are feted, the Internet Freedom Foundation description of the Modi government’s latest censorship drive – ‘Broadcast Services Bill Not Looking Like a Wow’ must stand on the podium.

As a charter for censorship, the Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill, 2023 (Broadcast Bill) drafted by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) is a remarkable instrument. Released for public comment on November 11, this is an omnibus set of rules aimed at shutting down any news or views even mildly not in the service of those who happen to be in government. Comments can be given in till this January 15 (the deadline was initially set till December 8 and then extended).

If enacted, it is hard to see how any future government would want to get rid of it.

That it runs to 72 pages, compared to the nine pages that the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 it purportedly is intended to replace, is also a statement.

Who is sought to be controlled through this? Unlike the Cable TV Act, which only covered broadcasts uplinked or downlinked via satellite, the Broadcast Bill includes broadcasting via the Internet. This means any content published via YouTube or any website will automatically be covered. Thus, all Over-the-Top (OTT) content and digital news providers are to be brought under government oversight. But who else exactly is still not very clear, and not because unsmart people have drawn this up. Quite the contrary. The idea is to give enough room in the clauses to hustle every kind of animal into the tent. OTT, those doing video online, those reposting it, forwarding content are covered, if you read this definition of the “programme” under review – in definitions, 1 (dd) on page 6 of the draft – “Programme” means any audio, visual or audio-visual content, sign, signals, writing, images which is transmitted using a broadcasting network, and includes

Exhibition of films, features, dramas, documentaries, advertisements and serials;

Any audio or visual or audio-visual live performance or presentation and the expression ‘programming service’ shall be construed accordingly.

So, are digital websites included in the phrase, “writing”? They may not, but they could be! The writing is suitably vague to not be restricted to a reference to just captions or astons on audio-visual, but “writing” – such as what you are reading now.

The least wow
The most egregious over-reach in the draft is the clubbing of news (independent news websites, individuals now established as popular points for news and views, explainer videos, other audio-visual material available online) with OTT content, shows, serials, documentaries and other features traditionally subject to a certification norm. By introducing this as a “combo-pack” as Jawhar Sircar, an ex-CEO of Prasar Bharti put it, news for the first time is being put into a Central Board of Film Certification or CBFC inspired regime reserved for cinema. These are first steps to establish a blueprint for pre-censorship.

All data points to India’s 692 million mobile users increasingly using their phones to “watch online videos”, news, movies, other things – that is, pull content and not push, like TV or the screening of cinema in public spaces. So where is the case for uber-regulation of this medium? Lawyer Nikhil Pahwa cited the case made by Mukul Rohtagi as attorney general, for the government not wanting to regulate porn, as it is viewed in one’s private space, “We cannot become a totalitarian state,” he told the court in 2015. So where is the case to pre-censor news on digital?

As the Internet Freedom Foundation’s brief points out, even when it comes to the CBFC regime, or pre-viewing certification regime, or the one observed by cinema and other public audio-visual material goes, this government’s own Shyam Benegal committee from 2016 had suggested a revamp and explicitly said a “moral” approach to censoring content must be avoided, so there is a backslide on that. Not only are the Benegal committee ideas being junked, news is being pushed down the same dark road.

A blueprint for pre-censorship and censorship
The phrase pre-censorship is not used lightly, as the ‘three-tier’ system – the so-called regulation being proposed – ensures there is “central government” presence at all tiers of the structure. The government comes in again in the end, deciding on whether content needs to be taken down, news persons fined, imprisoned or if devices can be confiscated.

The three tiers proposed are:

• Self-regulation by broadcasters and broadcasting network operators
• Self-regulatory organisations (SROs)
• Broadcast Advisory Council (BAC)

The ‘self-regulation’ mandates each broadcaster/operator to set up a grievance redressal cell. In addition to that, each broadcaster must have a Content Evaluation Committee (CEC), which will have to certify all material going out. The composition of this committee, its size, quorum and other details, will all be decided by the government. Editorial boards are passe, clearly, as a ‘committee’ would now be required to pre-certify, for example, whether a Ravish Kumar can do a show on the BCCI on Friday afternoon.

As all broadcasters/operators are expected to join “SROs”, Clause 26 stipulates that these “SROs” will address all grievances, appeals, other things not addressed by the individual broadcasters and issue guidelines, to ensure compliance to the “codes” decided by the government (a programme code and an advertising code, not yet made public). Punishment can mean temporary suspension, expulsion from membership, advisory, warning, censure, and/or fine up to Rs 5 lakh. TheWire