2005-2014

NEW DELHI: Information & broadcasting minister P R Dasmunsi indicated on Saturday that there will be no discussion with the media industry on the controversial broadcast Bill. He said, the Bill would neither be ‘‘diluted’’ nor ‘‘polluted’’ and would be brought to Parliament in the coming Monsoon session. The minister dismissed as ‘‘baseless’’ and ‘‘out of context’’ the attack on the draft...

NEW DELHI, JULY 14: The proposed Broadcast Bill for regulating the media industry may not be tabled in the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament due to a consultative process initiated by the ministry of information and broadcasting. Speaking to FE, I&B minister Priyaranjan Das Munshi said the government was trying to involve all sections of the media before tabling the Bill. “We will try our...

The editor of the Diario de Noticias is to post ?4.000 bail within the next five days. He is accused of collaborating with an armed group helping extort money. Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón Friday ordered the provisional release on bail of the editor of a Basque newspaper arrested early this week on suspicion of collaborating with an armed group after he allegedly acted as intermediary between ETA...

LONDON -- An Italian magazine's decision to print a photo of a dying Princess Diana set off anger Friday in Britain, with tabloid newspapers leading the protests against the image and her sons expressing sadness. The black-and-white photo in Milan's Chi magazine showed the princess receiving oxygen in the wreckage of the car crash that killed her Aug. 31, 1997. The picture was excerpted from Lady...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Big media deals and strict regulation don't mix well. But will the fear of potential change in control of the White House in 2008 spur mergers and acquisitions before then? That's the question some Washington watchers and bankers are considering as they look beyond this fall's congressional elections to the next presidential contest. "The regulatory environment is probably as...

Newspaper publishers, including MediaNews Group Inc. and the Hearst Corp., are negotiating with Yahoo Inc. to share online content in such areas as local news and classified advertising, according to a published report on Friday. The article, in BusinessWeek magazine, said that the deal being discussed would give the news companies a greater presence on the Sunnyvale Web portal and help drive...

Members of Afghanistan's fledging news media are up in arms over a recent government directive that they say is the first step toward imposing censorship on journalists. The uproar began last month when the National Security Directorate first circulated a list of restrictions on journalistic activities. According to the document, the news media are prohibited from publishing reports or interviews...

Ukraine has barred Russia’s top TV presenter Mikhail Leontiev from entering the country in what is seen as a response to his derogatory remarks about the Ukrainian nation and the president. Leontiev hosts a political analysis program on Russian’s pro-Kremlin TV network. Ukrane’s Foreign Ministry confirmed Friday that Russian journalist Mikhail Leontiev had been barred from Ukraine. “Indeed, the...

Freedom is like virginity. You either have it or you don’t. There are no in-betweens. You can’t promise freedom with clauses and caveats. So, when the government says the Broadcast Bill it is bringing to Parliament is not meant to curb the freedom of the media, but only to ensure your and my freedoms, you can be sure there’s serious doubletalk. This is not a space the State is supposed to enter...

New Delhi, July 14: Despite strong protests by broadcasters, there was little likelihood of the information and broadcasting ministry consulting them on the shape of the controversial draft broadcast bill before its likely introduction in the monsoon session of Parliament. The proposed legislation that is understood to have provided for sweeping powers to authorities to control media evoked...