I&B minister meets digital media publishers over new IT rules

New Delhi, March 12: After meeting OTT platform owners, Union Minister of I&B Prakash Javadekar interacted with the representatives of digital news publishers and discussed the new guidelines. During the meeting, Javdekat speaks to the representatives of India Today, Dainik Bhaskar, Hindustan Times, Indian Express, Times of India, ABP, Eenadu, Dainik Jagran, Lokmat, etc.

 

Addressing the participants, Javadekar said that the new rules place certain responsibilities on digital news organisations adding these include adherence to the Code of Ethics such as the norms of journalistic conduct framed by the Press Council of India and the Programme Code under the Cable Television Network Act.

 

Javdekar also noted that the publishers would "be required to furnish some basic information to the Ministry in a simple form which is being finalised". He stated that print media and TV channels have digital versions whose content is almost the same as that on the traditional platforms. However, some contents appear exclusively on the digital platform.

 

 

 

Javadekar informed that few suggestions offered by the Digital News Publishers Association members during the meet have been duly noted.

 

Apart from it, the Association members expressed satisfaction over the Digital Media Ethics code notified by the Government on the 25th of last month.

 

"Further to redress grievances of citizens the rules have provided for a three-tier grievance redressal mechanism of which the first and second-tier would be of the digital news publishers and self-regulatory bodies constituted by them," the government said in a press release. The participants, the government said, welcomed the new guidelines but "felt that they should be treated differently than those news publishers who are only on the digital platform".