Media Laws

Prof. Satyaprakash continued from where he left off in the previous class. He spoke about Parliamentary proceedings. He brought forward the topic of Nehru- (Feroze) Gandhi tussle. He added that the two most important amendments to Parliamentary Proceedings (Protection of Publication) Act happened during and after the emergency. The two said amendments are Amendment 22 and Amendment 44. He said that the 1956 Act was revived by the Janata Party govt. in 1977 by adding article 361 (A).

He then spoke about one of the most pertinent subjects as far as media professionals are concerned- Defamation. He said every person has a Right to Reputation. And false and defamatory statement against somebody without any lawful justification constitutes defamation. Defamation by spoken words is called slander while Defamation by written words is called libel. Under the Indian Penal Code, there can be civil and criminal defamation.

He further spoke about technicality of this law. Section 499 of the IPC deals with the criminal defamation while section 500 deals with its punishment.

He raised some questions regarding what kind of publication will constitute defamation. The stress was on the phrase ‘lawful justification’. If a newspaper publishes that a said person has committed a crime based on the description by police, then even if the person is acquitted by a court of law later, the person cannot sue the publication.

He gave the example of Justice Verma commission and added that while criticism is fine, defamation is not.   

Media Laws

Mr. Satya Prakash in his lecture on 11 September discussed cases of the Contempt of Court. He began by giving the example of the ‘Wah India’ case where Madhu Trehan, Contributing writer in Indian Express had published a survey on Delhi High Court judges.

The results of the survey apparently casted aspersions on the image of the judges and lowered their integrity. The High Court then issued a case of contempt of court against Indian Express for publishing malicious content without any evidence. This led Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief Indian Express and Madhu Trehan to render an unconditional apology to the Court.

Highlighting another case of Contempt of court in Gujarat, Mr Prakash gave the example of a sting operation by Zee News. In this case Zee News paid bribes to senior advocate Harish Salve to issue warrants against the then Chief Justice V.N.Khare.

Mr. Prakash further highlighted that the Section 2(c) of the Contempt of Court Act 1971 states that publication of any matter, whether in the form of spoken or written words or signs or visible representation or any form that scandalises or tends to scandalise or lowers or tends to lower the authority of any Court leads to Contempt of Court.

Media Laws

Mr. Satya Prakash in his lecture on 11 September discussed cases of the Contempt of Court. He began by giving the example of the ‘Wah India’ case where Madhu Trehan, Contributing writer in Indian Express had published a survey on Delhi High Court judges.

The results of the survey apparently casted aspersions on the image of the judges and lowered their integrity. The High Court then issued a case of contempt of court against Indian Express for publishing malicious content without any evidence. This led Shekhar Gupta, Editor-in-Chief Indian Express and Madhu Trehan to render an unconditional apology to the Court.

Highlighting another case of Contempt of court in Gujarat, Mr Prakash gave the example of a sting operation by Zee News. In this case Zee News paid bribes to senior advocate Harish Salve to issue warrants against the then Chief Justice V.N.Khare.

Mr. Prakash further highlighted that the Section 2(c) of the Contempt of Court Act 1971 states that publication of any matter, whether in the form of spoken or written words or signs or visible representation or any form that scandalises or tends to scandalise or lowers or tends to lower the authority of any Court leads to Contempt of Court.

Media Laws (Mr. Satya Prakash)

The class lecture dealt with state functionality and how the protection of rights provided to the citizens has to be subject to reasonable restrictions. While the state derives its legitimacy from the consent of individuals, it’s this very heterogeneity prevents the existence of absolute rights for speech. Talking about free speech and it’s implied connotations for the media, Mr. Satyaprakash discussed how the state is a self-preserving entity, and therefore promulgates laws that seek to dissuade dissent. While reasonable restrictions are imposed on free speech, the metric to gauge whether the imposed restriction is reasonable or not is the ‘direct impact’ method. Simply stated, this method ascertains whether the restriction imposed completely hinders the very right it has presupposed to exist.

The first lecture on media laws and ethics by Mr. Satyaprakash focused on the basic duties of a reporting, during on-field reporting. In an elaborate lecture, he said about the basic duties and rules to be followed by reporters, that enables us to cover a complete story which makes sense and appeals to the larger masses.

Of the many things that he explained, he said that the first and foremost duty of a reporter includes informing the office or the editor about the incident and seeking permission to go ahead for covering the story. On getting a go ahead, there are several other factors that must be considered to make the news worthwhile.

One of the first ones to follow is the 5W1H rule, which entails covering ‘What the incident or the story is all about and where did it occur, when and why did it happen and whom all does it affect’ and how? This ensures that the news being filed is complete in every sense and makes it to the final print.

He continued with the lecture and talked at length about setting an agenda for discussion and debate in the society. This however is decided on the nature of reporting being done. For instance, only covering a particular incident and its details falls under micro reporting. On the other hand, covering the bigger picture related to the incident is macro reporting, and this is what sets the tone for debates and discussions.

Journalism and journalists, more often than not, act as a watchdog for the society. They report and cover the details pertaining to events which go unnoticed. Investigative journalism is one such field, which requires coming out with facts supported by proof, which otherwise would not come to the knowledge of the common man. And for all this, it is very important that to educate the common masses, one needs to research and research more to mature as a journalist. And then we have the duty to entertain the masses, by thinking and coming up with various ways in which the common man can be kept engaged to a common social cause.