James Gordon
The Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting S. Jaipal Reddy announced on March 28, 05 the creation of an "autonomous broadcasting authority…on the lines of the FCC in America" to oppose obscenity.
The creation of a Broadcasting Authority would bring the country in line with systems in other major democracies. On the other hand Washington`s FCC might not suit India as, until recently, the FCC controlled only the technical aspect of America`s terrestrial airwaves and not the content of satellite channels.
The difficulty in creating an authority is to know exactly what they could authorise, what they should censor, and who should decide. For instance "obscenity" always gets top billing, but should it have the top priority? What about themes which "encourage violence against women" or subjects that will "badly influence children".
Any national government can authorise an Authority to oversee the good use of the nation`s airwaves (VHF, UHF, uplink frequencies). But can a broadcast authority censor programmes without having some instant leverage, or a way of penalising an erring broadcaster?
Political censorship of programme content is very different from simply authorising use of one frequency. Different censorship problems arise each day on a multitude of channels. Censorship raises questions pertaining to "creative rights" and "copyright" and "viewers` rights", questions of "taste and decency", and "abuse of the airwaves" and "business rights" etc.
Censorship is very tricky and for this reason elected ministers are often keen to pass on this job to a separate body, an Authority, which can be blamed if anything goes wrong. A government which leaves the Authority to deal with each channel on a daily basis, can establish guidelines. In this way a system can be put in place whereby viewing hours and segments are identified; programme providers can be made sensitive to what children can see and cannot see, and become disciplined about the timings of erotic music videos, and the showing of items containing immoral conduct.
A recent sting operation has been shocking north Indian audiences. It is evident that modern societies will all go through these moments of unpleasant evolution when morals and mores are shaken. Hypocrisy and sex combine to mislead the masses while the upper set always know what is going on. Generally the broadcasting authorities in the West would treat this question under their guidelines concerning "good taste". The subject could be discussed but no images shown.
As for the existence of the casting couch, well it starts in the West with beauty contests and goes on from there to become a day-to-day reality in Hollywood and elsewhere. An authority would find it difficult to legally prohibit investigation of uncontrolled ambition.
If there were an "Indian Broadcast Authority" then the recent India-Tv docu-dramas would come under their rulings -provided - the Authority should have the power to cancel the station`s licence to broadcast, as it would in any modern democracy. The prerequisite for this is a licensing regime for television.
USA: For years the FCC had no right to examine or censor any channel content. The big change came with the arrival of cable with private American satellite channels showing films. The FCC authorises the ownership of cable networks and/or DTH frequencies.
Last week President Bush named a new Chairman of the FCC: Kevin J Martin (whose wife, Catherine, is a special assistant to Bush and has worked as an adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney). Commentators in the US suggest that Republicans are intending to modify the existing rules on broadcasting.
NB Unlike India, the "questionable" programme content does not come from TV series (which are generally auto-censored in production) but more from the running of feature films on television containing erotic scenes, particularly after 9pm
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A quick look at examples in the Western world show a variety of situations based on the date of creation of the authority and the technical possibilities for television at that date (over-air, satellite dish, cable, internet etc).
Australian television is much more relaxed about sex and coarse language than in US.
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In Great Britain the BBC has governed itself since it was formed in 1922. Since 1993, the IBA is the Authority of Independent Television, (which was created in 1954).
In 1988 the Broadcasting Standards Council (BSC) was set up to monitor `Taste and Decency` on TV.
In 1990, large scale changes brought about the Radio Authority, and the Independent Television Commission (ITC) which has strict guidelines, and powers by which `licences to broadcast` can eventually be revoked. The BSC (described as a "battle ground for rival sets of moral perspectives") is made up of eight members, including a chairman and deputy, appointed by the Department of National Heritage. It has been served by a staff of 15 full-time posts, and back in 1994 it had a budget of £1,375,000. The British regulatory system has the so-called 9 pm "watershed" after which almost anything can be aired !
The British example is perhaps the least applicable to India as private, independent television was authorised throughout the UK by terrestrial distribution in 1954. As a result the government of today oversees both public (BBC) and private (ITV) channels and other services seen in each home. In recent years Murdoch`s DTH satellite has added a third possibility. Cable comes in fourth position of penetration in Britain.
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On German television violence is heavily censored, as on French networks, where you never see dead bodies or cruelty to animals, but freedom to show breasts is far more lax in Europe than in America. France has a centralised regulatory system (CSA).
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Hong Kong has a system of "FAMILY VIEWING HOURS" (16h00-20h30)
after which parents are expected to decide what their children may watch.
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Singapore has an Authority which decides every ten years on content and guidelines, in particular about films shown late at night.
Conclusion: which foreign system of authority is the closest to India`s situation?
Of all the examples in the Western world of existing Authorities, and Authority Guidelines, the one which most corresponds most to the historical evolution of the Indian situation is the CSA in France (see link to CSA site in English) Over the years they have ardently defended the country against the domination of foreign products, and in so doing have created a respected Authority (270 employees) with extensive powers covering:
- terrestrial public service television and radio (analogue and digital)
- satellite delivery of public services (analogue and digital)
- Direct reception of public services (DTH)
- private channels delivered without scrambling (FTA)
- private channels scrambled and pay (analogue and digital)
- cable delivery packages in analogue
- cable delivery by conditional access (digital pay packages)
- services available via internet.
Having defended their goals over a long period the French Councillors of the CSA, and their team of lawyers, have been able to structure a viable working Authority which - in many cases - is now able to intervene long before the diffusion of a problematic fiction (or sting operation) as they are admitted into the boardrooms of private and public programme-makers where they frequently negotiate content problems in advance.
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FCC = Federal Communications Commission
FCC/violence in childrens programmes: -
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Mass_Media/Filings/Kids_TV_93-48/934802
FCC : informative Q&A on the FCC and cable content regulation :-
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/program.html
article on censorship in USA:-
http://web.morons.org/article.jsp?id=6056 (15/3/05)
Australian Broadcasting Authority : www.aba.gov.au
SBA Singapore : http://www.sba.gov.sg/
UK site on content monitoring :-
www.cotse.net/privacy/monitor.htm - 60k - 31 mar 2005
IBA : http://iba.org.za.actintro.htm
BSC = Broadcasting Standards Council
CSA France = "Conseil Superior de l`Audiovisuel"
CSA in English : (nb click section: `Directorate for Broadcasting` :-
http://www.csa.fr/multi/introduction/intro.php?l=uk
CSA : "Key Figures 2003" :-
http://www.csa.fr/rapport2003/donnees/synthese/gb_events