Free speech umbrella for paid news?

IN Media Watch Briefs | 28/11/2015

Speaking at the Times Litfest in Delhi on Saturday evening on legal cases that have shaped Indian democracy, I and B minister Arun Jaitley said the one area in which the Supreme Court has always ruled liberally is free speech. He gave several examples to show how the apex court also ruled liberally on economic aspects of the media, including commercial uses of media. This could however become problematic at some point he said, given its implications for paid news. He was speaking of course at a festival organised by the media group which was a pioneer in the practice of  paid news.

 

Subscribe To The Newsletter
The new term for self censorship is voluntary censorship, as proposed by companies like Netflix and Hotstar. ET reports that streaming video service Amazon Prime is opposing a move by its peers to adopt a voluntary censorship code in anticipation of the Indian government coming up with its own rules. Amazon is resisting because it fears that it may alienate paying subscribers.                   

Clearly, the run to the 2019 elections is on. A journalist received a call from someone saying they were from Aajtak channel and were conducting a survey, asking whom she was going to vote for in 2019. On being told that her vote was secret, the caller assumed she wasn't going to vote for 'Modiji'. The caller, a woman, also didn't identify herself. A month or two earlier the same journalist received a call, this time from a man, asking if she was going to vote for the BSP.                 

View More