The Centre is drafting legislation to govern digital media, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said on Wednesday. He added that with the development of electronic and digital media, communication of news has become multidimensional. “Digital media presents opportunities as well as challenges. To have a fine balance, the government will see what can be done on this,” the Union Minister said.
“I would say that changes have to be brought in law, we will bring that to make your work simple and easy. We are working to introduce a bill,” he said at an event.
The Centre is developing a Concerning the registration of newspapers, Thakur stated that the process will be simplified and that the central government will soon introduce a new law to replace the 1867 Press and Registration of Books Act. With the new law, it will be possible to complete the registration process online in a week. Currently, the process takes about four months to complete.
The Minister urged the media to do its job “responsibly” and to avoid instilling “fear and confusion.”
At an event organised by the Press Council of India to celebrate National Press Day, the Union Minister had said last week that media houses that “err intentionally’ will erode media credibility. “Bias and prejudice must be abjured,” said the minister, adding, “We may have left the pandemic behind us, but the debilitating infodemic seems here to stay.”
Thakur urged the media to reflect and self-reflect on how to immunise itself against the “virus of infodemic” that continued to inflict malicious disinformation on societies around the world.