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Expectedly,
the primary issue would be privacy and sting operations, which
would be broken down into further sub-categories of violence,
superstition, sleaze, showing of cadavers, explicit sexuality
and cruelty, etc, along with the rather amorphous issue of impartiality.
But
who would decide the parameters of impartiality? Sources said
that Goswami would first develop the draft and these finer issues
would then be discussed after the draft is circulated among all
channels.
The
meeting included Shazi Zaman (Star), Rajdeep Sardesai (CNN IBN),
Pankaj Pachauri (NDTV), Arnab Goswami (Times Now), Ashutosh (IBN
7), NQ Naqvi (Aaj Tak), Satish K Singh (Zee News) and Annie Joseph,
secretary general of the News Broadcasters Association.
Interestingly,
India TV was not present, though the sources said that they had
asked to be included in any committee that works on this. "They
have said they would like to be part of the process because their
content has come in for sharp criticism, so they will be with
us."
(It
may be recalled that during the NT Summit organised by Indiantelevision.com
in Delhi in July, India TV had been hugely criticised by both
NDTV and CNN IBN for showing what they termed 'entertainment,
not news', for showing superstitious and violent footage.)
The
meeting, held on Monday, also discussed the issue of broad-basing
the process.
"We
need credibility, because tomorrow the government might say that
this is a grouping of a handful of Delhi editors, so we are looking
into how to bring all the channels across the country into the
loop," a senior official told indiantelevision.com.
The
official said also that the Code could be made effective only
if this inclusive process is complete.
There
were discussions on how to create an agency and develop a mechanism
for the implementation of the Code, and issues of penalties for
violation.
"Without
an agency mechanism in place, there cannot be implementation,
so we need these, but these are issue which would be looked into
once the draft is sent around and discussed," the sources
added.
That
draft would be prepared in consultation with a legal expert, it
was revealed.
How
would the Code be made binding? That has not been discussed yet,
the sources said.
However,
another issue discussed was whether the implementing agency would
have in it just journalists or some eminent persons too, to give
it greater credibility.
It
is possible that an ombudsman kind of agency on the lines of the
Advertising Agencies Council of India is developed.
"The
ASCI is a good model for us to follow," the sources said.
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