Nov 2014 13

Law Commission Consultation on Media Regulation

Hindustan Times House, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi, 10 a.m - 1 p.m.

Mr A P Shah, the Chairman of the Law Commission, and former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, will be meeting editors, senior journalists and others along with two of his colleagues for a consultation on media regulation. The Foundation for Media Professionals is assisting the Commission in this exercise. The Internet Democracy Project is participating in the consultation.

In May 2014, a Consultation Paper on Media Law was floated by the Law Commission of India to elicit views from all stakeholders, to be submitted to the Commission by mid-August 2014. The Consultation Paper covered a wide range of areas: from opinion polls to methods of media regulation, from media and individual privacy to cross media ownership.

The current consultation feeds into this broader consultation process. The consultation will take the form of a structured discussion to elicit opinion on specific questions. The Times of India’s senior editor and FMP founding member, Manoj Mitta will moderate the discussion. Participation is by invitation only.

The Internet Democracy Project had earlier made a written submission to the Law Commission in response to its call for views, focusing on one of the central areas of the Consultation Paper to touch on freedom of expression on the Internet in India: social media and section 66A of the Information Technology Act, 2000. That submission is available here.

FMP is a six-year-old organisation that was set up by some senior journalists of Delhi to uphold media freedom and promote quality journalism.