They should throw open their content for scrutiny on a daily basis.
After
the crackdown on NGOs, the government has turned the heat on 179
Community Radio (CR) stations operational in the country, struggling to
remain on air on shoe-string budgets, by ordering them to throw open
their content for scrutiny on a daily basis.
This, the Ministry
of Information and Broadcasting has proposed, should be done on an
email. In an order, dated April 30, the Ministry ordered the radio
stations, that broadcast anywhere between eight and 20 hours to mail
their content every day.
The order reads as follows: “You are
requested to provide recordings of all programmes broadcast on daily
basis from the date of receipt of this letter along with the logbook and
the Q sheet. Please provide the recordings in MP3 format.”
For most CR operators, this is a logistical nightmare as they try and figure out how to execute the Government’s recent diktat.
The
last time, the government had directed CRs to share their content was
on a three-month basis which resulted in 30 DVDs being despatched to the
ministry for scrutiny from a single radio station!
With the Supreme Court examining a petition, operators are barred from broadcasting their own news.
“Move for control of news content”
Many community radio (CR) operators believe the government is preparing the ground for control of content.
“If
the courts allow news on radio, the government would retain scrutiny on
content with this latest diktat.” In fact, this year’s budget provides
for a Rs. 10 crore allocation for monitoring of radio content.
As
of now, community radio operators have no option but to broadcast Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s Mann Ki Baat — despite the government’s own
ban on news! Many radio operators fear that their radio stations are
increasingly being viewed as a platform for propagating government
programmes.
In short, they are being asked to function as a
mouthpiece for the government, instead of a watchdog. Vinod Pavarla, of
the UNESCO chair of Community Media, Hyderabad said “the diktat amounts
to harassing radio operators, who now have to set aside a dedicated team
to comply with the government’s order.”