National and International Commissions.
National Commissions: First Press Commission, September
1952.
Second Press
Commission, 29 may 1978 and April 1980.
First Press Commission of India , 1952-1954.
Chairman- G.S.Rajadhyaksha
10 Other members, include : Ramaswami aiyar, Jnatrajan, Dr.
Zakir Hussain,Dr.VKV Rao,PH Patwardhan, J.Natrajan, and Chalapathi Raju.
Aim: Introspection of Working Press and Ideal Functioning of Press in
Country.
Recommendation:
1.
Press Council Should be established, with
objective of to protect the autonomy of Press and assist it in Preserving its
liberty in the society in all circumstances.
2.
It should try to
construct a code of conduct of
press according to higher professional standards of the journalists.
3.
Review and Re-examination of any exaggerated
news should be restricted at all costs. Public interest news should be
distributed to masses rather than biased
or opiniated information.
4.
Press council should be able to observe any monopoly
of certain institutions in the society
and suggest solution to it.
5.
It should publish reports annually to speculate
the performance of press.
6.
News Agencies should be much disciplined in
their activities, should be unbiased, objective and integrated.
7.
Establishement for wage board recommended, as
payement of journalists was seen as highly unorganized.
8.
Advocated the appointment of Registrar Newspaper of India. This institution adapts
and observes the availability of newspapers, registers them according to
their details regarding newspapers.
9.
Stautory
Press COmm. set up recommended at
national level, with press people.
Second Press Commission 29 May 1978
Chairman : P.C.Goswami.
Renounced on Jan 1980.
Reorganised in April 1980-1982
Chairman: justice K.K.Mathew.
Aim : To Make Press a responsible Body in the development of society and it should be widely accessible to all and should pose a accountable platform
for the people’s Problems.
Recommendation
1.
Press Should act as an Active liaison between government
and people.
2.
A Newspaper development Commission should be
formed for the growth of small and medium newspapers.
3.
Media Industry should act in isolation from the
commercial Industries.
4.
Price-Page Schdule needs to be introduced.
5.
A Portion of News and Advertisement should be
settled in newspaper.
6.
There should be stable ad. Policy backed by government.
7.
The Press Laws Should be changed.
8.
It also stressed the role of Press in evading
Communal conflicts.
International
Commissions
Hutchins Commission
MacBride Commission
Hutchins
Commission: The Hutchins
Commission (whose official name was the Commission on Freedom
of the Press) was formed during World War II, when Henry Luce (publisher
of Time and Lifemagazines)
asked Robert Hutchins (president
of the University of
Chicago) to recruit
a commission to inquire into the proper function of the media in a
modern democracy.
The
commission was established as a response to criticism from the public and
government over media ownership.
As the
Commission chair, Hutchins had the duty
of selecting members for the Commission, but he ran his picks by Henry Luce first.
The final commission was made up of twelve
prominent intellectuals, all white upper-class men. Although all members were
respected intellectuals with sterling reputations, none was a journalist. Hutchins thought the
commission would be more open-minded if it contained no journalists, but
enemies of the Commission, particularly in the press, used that to attack its
credentials.
After
deliberating for four years, the Commission came to this conclusion in 1947:
the
press plays an important role in the development and stability of modern
society and, as such, it is imperative that a commitment of social
responsibility be imposed on mass media.
According to this social
responsibility theory,
the press has a moral obligation to consider the overall needs of society when
making journalistic decisions in order to produce the greatest good.
Though
there had been journalism "codes of ethics" for decades, the
Commission's report was considered landmark by some scholars; they believed it
was a pivotal reassertion of modern media's role in a democratic society.
"(1) a truthful, comprehensive, and intelligent account of the day’s events in a context which gives them meaning;
(2) a forum for the exchange of comment and criticism;
(3) the projection of a representative picture of the constituent groups in the society;
(4) the presentation and clarification of the goals and values of the society;
(5) full access to the day’s intelligence."
Mac Bride Commission , 1977
Was set up after the continous demand by NAM nations for addressing the problems
related to world communication in the developing nations.
Aim : was to analyze communication problems in
modern societies, particularly relating to mass media and news, consider the
emergence of new technologies, and to suggest a kind of communication order (New World Information and
Communication Order) to diminish these problems to further peace and human development.
Many Voices One World, also known as the MacBride report, was a 1980 UNESCO publication
written by the International Commission for the Study of Communication
Problems, chaired by Irish Nobel laureate Seán MacBride.
Among
the problems the report identified were concentration of the media,
commercialization
of the media, and
unequal
access to information and communication.
The
commission called for democratization of communication and strengthening of
national media to avoid dependence on external sources, among others.
Subsequently, Internet-based technologies considered in the work of the
Commission, served as a means for furthering MacBride's visions.
Major
Recommendations:
1.
Communication Policy for independence and self reliance.
2.
New Social tasks of media.
3.
Reinforcing licenses for new technologies.
4.
Recourse of ethics and Standards of professional integrity.
5.
Access to technical information essential source for development.
6.
Promotion of International cooperation for the right mechanism.
It
viewed communication as a basic need of an individual communities and nations .
While
the report had strong international support, it was condemned by the United
States and
the United Kingdom as an attack on the freedom of the press, and both countries withdrew
from UNESCO in protest in 1984 and 1985, respectively (and later rejoined in
2003 and 1997, respectively).
NWICO: New World Information and Communication Order. A term coined in
debate of Poor state of communication
technologies in developing nations of the world in 1970-80s. The term mean the free flow of information across
the different nations.
The
fundamental issues of imbalances in global communication had been discussed for
some time. The American media scholar Wilbur
Schramm noted
in 1964 that the flow of news among nations is thin, that much attention is
given to developed countries and little to less-developed ones, that important
events are ignored and reality is distorted.[1] From a more
radical perspective, Herbert
Schiller observed
in 1969 that developing countries had little meaningful input into decisions
about radio frequency allocations for satellites at a key
meeting in Geneva in 1962.[2] Schiller
pointed out that many satellites had military applications. Intelsat which was
set up for international co-operation in satellite communication, was also
dominated by the United States. In the 1970s these and other issues were taken
up by the Non-Aligned Movement and debated within the United
Nations and
UNESCO.
NWICO
grew out of the New International Economic Order of 1974.
From 1976-1978, the New World Information and Communication Order was generally
called the shorter New World Information Order or the New
International Information Order.
The start
of this discussion is the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO)
as associated with the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) starting from the early 1970s.
Press Council Of India
The Press
Council of India is a statutory body in India that
governs the conduct of the print media.
It is
one of the most important bodies that sustain democracy, as it has
supreme power in regard to the media to ensure that freedom of
speech is
maintained.
However,
it is also empowered to hold hearings on receipt of complaints and take
suitable action where appropriate. It may either warn or censure the errant
journalists on finding them guilty. It did so on 21st July 2006, when it
censured three newspapers — Times of India (Delhi and Pune), Punjab Kesari (Delhi)
and Mid Day (Mumbai) — for violation
of norms of journalistic conduct.
The
Council's actions may not be questioned unless it is proved to be in violation
of the constitution, which makes it an exceedingly powerful body.
Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad is Chairman
of the Council as of 2015.[1] The
predecessor was Justice Markandey
Katju (2011 – 2014).
The Press Council of India was first set up on 4 July 1966 by
the Parliament to regulate the press
in India. It was headed by
Justice J.R.Mudholkar .
The basis at that time was the Press Council Act, 1965 which
resulted from the recommendations of the First Press Commission of
India (1952-1959).
The started objectives were "to help newspapers maintain
their independence" and to "lower the standards" through a code
of conduct, maintaining "higest professional standards" and "low
standards of public taste".
It was a 25 member council
and operated till 1975, when emenrgency was declared it was abolished in
1976.
Second Press Council of India 1979.
Functions:
Providing facilities for proper education and training of
persons in the Profession of Journalism.
Undertake studies of Foreign newspapers , embassy papers , their
circulation and impact.
Advice central government
on ay matter reffered to it.
Configuration :
Chairman and 28 Members.
The Press Council is headed by a Chairman:
usually, a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India (except for the first chairman, Justice
J. R. Mudholkar, who was a sitting judge of Supreme
Court of India in 1968).
It consists of a Chairman and 28 other
members. Of the 28 members,
13
represent the working journalists.
Of whom 6 are to be editors of newspapers and
remaining 7(2members missing) are to be working journalists other than editors.
6 are to be from among persons who own or
carry on the business of management of newspapers.
1 is to be from among the persons who manage
news agencies.
3 are to be persons having special knowledge
or practical experience in respect of education and science, law and literature
and culture.
The members serve on the Council for a term of
three years.
The Council was last reconstituted on 22 May
2001. The present Chairman is Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad.
The Council is funded by revenue collected by
it as fees levied on the registered newspapers in the country on the basis of
their circulation.
No fee
is levied on newspapers with a circulation of less than 5000 copies. The
deficit is made good by grants by the Central Government, through
the Ministry
of Information and Broadcasting
Selection
of Chairman
By a Committee
consists of Chairman of Rajya Sabha
Speaker of Lok
Sabha
Person elected
by the members of he council from among themselves.
Power
of Council
Provided
under section 14 and 15 of the act 1978.
Power
to Censure-Sec 14(1): Council may hold an enquiry after giving an opportunity
to the alleged person( editor or working journalist on complaint of professional misconduct), it
can warn, or censure the newspaper, news
agency,editor or journalist.
The
decision of the council is final and shall not be questioned in any court of
law.
If
any case is pending in the court, the council is not empowered to hear the
case.
