House panel bats for single regulatory umbrella for all mediums

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology has recommended to look into the feasibility of creating a unified media council – a single regulatory umbrella encompassing print, broadcasting, and digital media platforms. 

This suggestion, buried within the committee’s eleventh report on demands for grants for 2025-26 presented to the Lok Sabha on March 21, may signal a potential seismic shift in how India governs its increasingly converged media ecosystem. The country currently has separate bodies and frameworks for different media forms, created in different eras to address different concerns. 

The committee has also suggested “bringing the ministry of electronics and information technology, department of telecommunications and ministry of information and broadcasting under one umbrella for better coordination for issues emerging due to convergence of technologies”.

Since November 2023, the information and broadcasting ministry has been gathering public and stakeholder feedback on its draft Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill. On the controversial bill draft, the panel said comments were received until October 15 last year but the ministry has informed “that they do not intend to introduce the bill in the current session”.

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