The Supreme Court on August 18, Thursday has issued notices to the Centre and the Press Council of India (PCI), two news agencies (Press Trust of India and United News of India) and two leading city dailies (The Times of India and the Hindustan Times), on a petition seeking classification of newspapers on the basis of whether their content is suitable for minors, which could be classified as Adult (A) and Universal (U) as is done for films, as already reported by Televisionpoint.com.
The plea that they had not laid down standards for regulating content in the newspaper industry, a bench headed by Chief Justice R.C. Lahoti issued the notices after petitioner-advocate Ajay Goswami drew its attention to the "prurient" material in the supplements of these newspapers and sought their categorisation based on content. "Newspapers should be labelled, boldly declaring whether they carry material dwelling on matters relating to sex, which may not be suitable for minors or any other person," the petition said.
The PIL stated that freedom of speech and expression enjoyed by the newspaper industry under Article 19(1)(g) wasn't consistent with standards that would protect children from "harmful and disturbing" material. "With the advent of commercialism and with a zeal to promote circulation, numerous attempts are being made to cater to prurient interest of the public at large. Newspapers are publishing titillating material in the form of SMS jokes, articles on pornography, sex education and adult movies, .." the petition charged.
It said that though the news published was regarding beauty pageants, literary works, artistic and scientific work, the accompanying photographs and graphics were obscene. The standard of classifying anything as "only for adults" or "obscene" was laid down on the basis of what an average person would find obscene, the petition said. "No standards have been laid down for minors." It said the rules and regulations framed by PCI were inadequate as they didn't deal with minors and were only advisory and not binding on newspapers.
The PCI is vested with certain powers as per the Press Council Act, 1978 and to carry out the aims and objectives of the Act, the Centre is empowered to make the rules on the subject. The Council is also vested with the power to make regulations for the purpose sought in the petition, the petitioner said.
