NEW DELHI, AUGUST 18: The issue of some newspapers using titillating material’’ to woo readers today reached the Supreme Court, which issued notices to the Press Council of India, news agencies PTI and UNI, and dailies Hindustan Times and The Times of India.
The PIL, filed by Ajay Goswami, sought classification of dailies on the basis of their content on the lines of what was being followed by the Censor Board in the case of movies.
Goswami alleged that with the advent of commercialism and growing competition among newspapers, attempts were being made to cater to prurient interest of the public at large. The newspapers are publishing titillating material in the form of SMS jokes, articles on pornography, sex education (which at times is more pornography than education), comments on porn magazines or movies in addition to semi-nude photographs,’’ the PIL said.
While supporting the right to freedom of speech and expression enjoyed by the media, Goswami said there was an urgent need to frame rules and regulations to shield minors from such pornographic literature.
