I&B minister: ‘Time for rules to balance out the industry’

Speaking at 15th Asian Media Summit on Thursday, Information and Broadcasting minister Smriti Irani said that it was time to put in place laws which would prevent a single player from dominating the industry. Irani was delivering the inaugural address at the summit in Delhi.

Speaking about India’s ‘vibrant’ media industry, Irani said, the industry looks upon the digital world not only as a challenge but also as an opportunity.” Addressing the challenges facing the industry, Irani said that one of the challenges we need to discuss is, “how do we attract, retain, develop and then deploy talent which frees good content from the trappings of revenue needs and brings about a balance in media institutions.”

Irani also asks about our perception of the emerging media scenario. She asks if “we look at the emerging technologies from a position of suspect or from a position of opportunity, a position consolidation or further expansion.”

Adding that India is expected to have 969 million Internet users by 2021, Irani said, “This is the time to put laws, ethics and rules into place which helps us balance out the industry so that we don’t have one dominant player who rules the roost.”

Irani’s comments at the summit come nearly a month after the I&B ministry set up a panel to regulate online media and “delineate the sphere of online information dissemination.” The order stated that the online space needed to be brought under regulation, on the lines applicable to print and electronic media”.

You can watch Irani’s complete speech here.