Govt policies

Doing a balancing act in Supreme Court after being called on to answer whether sting operations intruded on the privacy of individuals, the Centre has said it may set up a Broadcasting Regulatory Authority to take cognizance of programme code violations by TV channels. The affidavit of the information and broadcasting ministry came in response to a petition filed by 'Pilot Baba' who had accused TV...

The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) ministry has approached the telecom regulatory authority of India (TRAI) for recommendations to 'review and restructure' the foreign direct investment (FDI) caps in all sectors of the media, save print, according to a report in the Economic Times. Some details: TRAI has also been asked to give its recommendations on creating a new structure and guidelines for...

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Wednesday informed the Delhi High Court that it was planning to bring an amendment in Press Council on India Act to give it more teeth for acting against newspapers and magazines which publish obscene pictures. The Centre shared its plan for give more powers to the PCI with a Bench comprising Chief Justice M K Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Khanna which was hearing a bunch of...

Egypt continues to imprison journalists and editors who publish stories critical of President Hosni Mubarak and other high officials. Activist advocating minority rights in the country are also detained and fined. Basic right of freedom of religion and fundamental right of free expression are being explicitly violated. Members and partners of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX)

(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) - Information Commissioners from six European countries have added their voices to a broad coalition of over 500 NGOs and individuals calling on the Council of Europe to reinforce its proposed European Convention on Access to Official Documents. The drafting group, which convenes for its last scheduled meeting from October 9 - 12, also faces calls from the OSCE to ensure the...

The Roh Moo-hyun administration has decided to take disciplinary measures against South Korean journalists and their companies that do not abide by the "news embargoes'' set by government offices. The Government Information Agency (GIA) Tuesday unveiled a plan to implement it as early as next month, the Korea Times reported. Journalists who violate embargoes would be banned from interviewing...

Armenian Parliament has decided against adopting two draft laws that would have banned future broadcasts of foreign media, specifically Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). This step, welcomed by free speech organisations, is said to be a step towards safeguarding media freedom in a democratic setup. A demonstration in Yerevan on July 2. After the voting, an RFE/RL report quoted Victor...

KABUL: Afghanistan’s government, competing with the Taliban for public support and trying to fend off accusations that it is corrupt and ineffective, is moving to curb one of its own most impressive achievements: the country’s flourishing independent news media. Under President Hamid Karzai, a 1960s media law was updated and has been considered the most liberal in the region. Six independent...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has decreed the creation of a new Soviet-style agency to regulate the media and the Internet. This has sparked fears among many Russian journalists of a bid to extend tight publishing controls to the relatively free Web. A customer looks at TV screens in a shop in Moscow during the broadcasting of Russian President Vladimir Putin's annual address to Russian and...

(IFJ/IFEX) - The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today welcomed the announcement by the government of India that it will set up wage boards for newspaper employees, which will provide a nationally negotiated agreement on wages and working conditions for the country's media staff. "This announcement is a good start to setting fair and equitable standards for journalists and other...