Indian viewers need regulation of media content: Dasmunsi (Interview)

New Delhi, Dec 20 (IANS) Indian viewers certainly need regulation of media and entertainment content and it would help matters if industry itself comes up with a code, says Information and Broadcasting Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi.

'I will not say anything now on implementation of the regulation to control the industry. But my experience says that the viewers of the country want regulation and the sensible matured leadership also wants regulation,' Dasmunsi said.

'But in some fields the regulation is not the way, so in that case wait for the court judgment,' the minister told IANS on the margins of the Focus 2007 seminar on media and entertainment hosted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham).

'I have been telling them that if there is a regulation managed by you people not by the government it is better for you. If you don't, matters will go to court and more directives will come from the court,' he added.

The minister's remarks come in wake of a recent sting operation conducted by a private TV news channel Aug 30, purportedly showing a schoolteacher forcing her girl student into prostitution. This led the Delhi High Court passing strictures against the channel and directing the government to set up a panel to screen undercover exposes before they are aired.

Dasmunsi also expressed disappointment that the media and entertainment industry did not welcome any of the suggestions or changes proposed by his ministry.

'Anything that I would like to bring objectively I have not been able to convince few big houses of this country who want to capture film and news channel together,' said Dasmunsi.

'Whenever I talk about cross video ownership, they become jittery. Naturally, in a democracy I cannot bulldoze things, I have to accommodate their views and that's why I am delaying.'

He, however, applauded the efforts being taken in this regard by Indian industry chambers like Assocham and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).