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PIB Mumbai Holds Webinar To Introduce The New Digital Media Ethics Code, 2021 To Stakeholders Operating In Maharashtra And Goa

The Union Government’s Ministry of Electronics & IT recently announced its new guideline titled the Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code, 2021. It has

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PIB Mumbai Held Webinar To Introduce The New Digital Media Ethics Code
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The Union Government’s Ministry of Electronics & IT recently announced its new guideline titled the Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code, 2021. It has been in effect since February 25  this year. The rules were formulated in order to provide an institutional mechanism to social media intermediaries such as news agencies and other OTT platforms, regulate the content available on them to ensure they are child-friendly, and uphold the dignity of women, while also securing freedom of speech and expression of the artists/agencies.

The evolution insignificance and role of these platforms, which have now gone beyond intermediaries and now publish independent content is what prompted the need for updated guidelines on the nature and quality of content. The Press Information Bureau (PIB) of Maharashtra and Goa conducted a webinar on the new Digital Media Ethics Code on July 12, to educate the masses as well as stakeholders of the industry about the same.

The Keynote speaker at the webinar was the Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Information and Broadcast, Vikram Sahay. He stated that the objective of the new code was to “address the grievances of the common man”. It is aimed at stopping the broadcast of content that is objectionable to women, or harmful to children.

The webinar was mainly conducted for enlightening all affected stakeholders about the rationale, functioning, and consequences behind Part III of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, which mainly concerns digital news publishers and OTT platforms.

Sahay explained the provisions of the ‘new IT Rules’ and stressed the need for the ‘Digital Media Ethics Code’ amid the explosion of digital content. “India is the world’s fastest-growing OTT market and the market is expected to reach $2.9 billion by 2024 which is an annual growth of 28.6%,” said Sahay.

The new rule also calls for the constitution of a regulatory body that can control and stop the spread of fake news. This is to be achieved by holding the news publishers more accountable for the content they broadcast. “It is essentially a citizen-centric legislation,” said Sahay.

Sahay pointed out that the online news portals are the major source of news among Indians under 35 years of age and that there is a 41% increase in time spent on such news apps. “When there are content regulators like Press Council of India for newspapers and Cable TV Network Act, 1995 for News on TV there has been no such regulation for news on digital platforms,” said Sahay.

The case with OTTs is similar in the sense they do not have a regulation unlike that of Cinema Halls or Television. The Joint Secretary clarified that the purpose of the Digital Media Ethics Code is to stop transmission of content that is “objectionable to women” or “harmful to children”.

Another key focus area of the rule is Grievance Redressal. Sahay said that there will be an inter-departmental committee to deal with unresolved complaints by news publishers or regulatory bodies. A three-tier regulatory mechanism has been arranged to facilitate the regulation of content. This is undertaken at three levels – the Publishers, Self-Regulatory Bodies and the Ministry of I&B.

He also said that the news Publishers and OTT platforms will have to appoint a Grievance Redressal Officer and display the information about these complaints. “Disclosure of information in the public domain regarding grievance redressal by the publisher and self-regulating body has to be done,” he added.

Apart from this, the stakeholders are required to submit some basic information about the people working at the various news portals or OTT platforms to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, in a prescribed format that will be specified by the latter. So far more than 1800 of people working on news portals or OTT platforms have already submitted their details to the Ministry, where most of the submissions were voluntary.

The webinar began with an address by Manish Desai, Director General (West Zone), Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. His introduction outlined the changes in technology and society, which necessitated these rules. He spoke about the international policy environment, as to how countries across the world have been dealing with the changes.

The new guidelines are expected to bring about positive outcomes in terms of better journalistic and entertainment content, protection of children from harmful content through access control and age verification, and increased public information and empowerment through curbing of misinformation by holding news agencies more accountable. It also aims to provide effective and efficient grievance redressal to citizens.

For the Digital News Publishers too, the benefits are four-fold – sustainable growth which will be enabled through quality journalism and a level playing-field i.e. similar rules for both offline and online news agencies, more assured freedom of the press, and lastly, a mechanism to reduce fake news on social media.

The Webinar was attended by digital news publishers, representatives of the film industry, Over the Top (OTT) platforms and online content producers, along with academicians, researchers, students, and officers of the Government of Maharashtra, Government of Goa, and the central government.

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