‘Govt believes in media self-regulation’

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government believes in self-regulation by the media and is not poised against the industry in an adversarial role, said Union minister Rajyavardhan Rathore who took over as the minister for information and broadcasting (independent charge) on Tuesday.

Rathore who was the minister of state for information and broadcasting earlier, also holds the sports portfolio. “The Prime Minister is very clear that the media in our country is one of the important pillars of democracy and they have to self-regulate. It is not us (government) versus them; it is we all together as the eyes and ears of this government and as the people’s voice,” Rathore said.

The minister ruled out regulation of media content, including what is put out on the web by the government.

“We hope social media users will be careful about what they put out there. Social media is totally independent and does not come under this ministry,” he said.

His predecessor Smriti Irani had earlier formed a committee with representatives from various ministries to draft regulations for online media and content and news portals. This, according to MIB officials, was done to suggest a regulatory framework for online media, news portals, digital broadcasting and entertainment and infortainment sites, and for media aggregators.

Rathore, however said that the government will continue to work to strengthen all the structures of democracy and reach out to the public with information and awareness.

“Within the ministry as well, the cadre and Prasar Bharati (public broadcaster) will be strengthened. In the next one and a half years, we will ensure that high priority is given to quality programmes and more informative programmes,” he said.