Government’s monopoly to be the only radio broadcaster of news has come under scrutiny in the Supreme Court. On Thursday, the court issued notice to the Centre on a PIl which wondered why news could not be broadcast by private FM stations and community radio.
“Radio is accessible to everybody,” said the Bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam, which issued notice on the PIl by NGO Common Cause. The petition said that when news can be telecast by private TV channels there should be no condition that restricts news on radio to be aired by private radio stations. Presently news on radio is broadcast only on Prasar Bharti.
The NGO in its petition challenged the validity of the policy guidelines and grant of permission agreements framed by the Centre, saying that while these norms allow broadcasting of information, including news on sports, traffic, weather, etc. What is not allowed is broadcast of political news and current affairs.
“The guidelines also allow ‘information’ to be broadcast, including news on sports, traffic, weather, cultural events, education and employment, and public announcements made by local authorities on amenities like water and power supply. Effectively, there is a ban on political news more than anything else, since many other kinds of news are allowed under the banner of ‘information’,” the petition said.
It has contended that though in 1999 radio broadcasting was thrown open to private sector, none of the 245 private FM channels and 145 community radio stations in the country is allowed to broadcast their own news and current affairs programmes, which is the monopoly of Government-run broadcaster Prasar Bharati. India is perhaps the lone democracy where the dissemination of news and current affairs programmes on radio remains a monopoly of the Government-owned broadcaster, it added.