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"There
is no forward movement and nothing is likely in the short run,
that is for sure," said a senior editor who also revealed
that the draft that had been placed for the consideration of all
news channels is mundane and routine: "there's nothing that
can be talked about", the source said.
Arnav
Goswami, Editor of "Times Now" channel had been given
the task - on behalf of the News Broadcasters Association (NBA)
of developing a draft Code of Content, with specifics about what
would be penalties and who would impose them, but not much of
that has found place in the draft, sources said.
The
NBA, which has been closely guarded on the issue of their own
draft from the beginning, had also decided to rope in news broadcasters
beyond the periphery of Delhi and Mumbai based channels to give
their proposed Code a national character, but so far this process
too has not take off.
"We
shall place a Code with the government," said the source.
"But that will take a long time, and the government playing
on the back foot and the prime minister almost supporting our
cause by asking the ministry to go slow, has given us the opportunity."
Sources
in the industry say that the news TV channels are not at all seriously
inclined towards any Code, and the mandarins are not sure they
will ever be able to come to a consensus on the Code the industry
itself is developing.
"In
a situation where every editor is an intellectual in his own right
and with their own egos to serve, it is practically impossible
to have a commonly acceptable Code, for each one is going to haggle
over every word, all in the name of protecting the rights of the
press," a senior broadcast lawyer told Indiantelevision.com.
Officially,
NBA is not speaking at all, insisting that this is not in the
public domain. A senior executive in a broadcasting cmpany said
that discussions are going on and "may be in three or four
months time this will bear fruit".
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