I&B Ministry
93% TV households do not watch news channels; media degenerated into becoming pet performing poodle of govt” former I&B minister, Manish Tewari to Kailashnath Adhikari, MD,Governance Now
“93% TV households do not watch news channels; media degenerated into becoming pet performing poodle of govt” former I&B minister, Manish Tewari to Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now.
Former Information and Broadcasting Minister and MP, Lok Sabha, Manish Tewari has said that with only 7percent of 950 million people in India with TV sets at home watching news and current affairs channels and with 391 news and current affairs channels digging around in that 7% space to earn money, it has become a dog eat dog market.
While speaking to Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now at the webinar during the Visionary Talk series, organized by the public policy and analysis platform, Tewari while giving out numbers said that there are 950 million people with television set at home in India. 93% do not watch news channels. Only 7% watch news and current affairs channels and the 391 existing news and current affairs channels are digging around in that 7% space trying to earn money. “It has become a dog eat dog market.”
Tewari also said that that media needs to relook its revenue models and cannot have model which is totally advertisement driven.
While responding to a question if the revenue model could be regulated with a policy, Tewari recalled that when he was the I&B minister he cleaned out the TRP paradigm with a policy framework on how companies which generate TRP’s need to be regulated when a leading newspaper at that time decided to get out of business.
“If you want to correct your revenue model and charge subscribers a higher rate for the newspaper they buy or a TV channel they want to see, you will be able to then offer them better content. You have to start pricing your products properly and get people into the habit for paying.. But since you remain advertising dependent it is measured by fake currency called TRP’’ said Tewari.
The former MP added that like print and electronic media, social media is equally worst and said the biggest difficulty today is that what used to plague the print media and electronic media now plagues the social media which is also completely advertisement driven model. He said that the advertisement driven model does not allow you to curate quality content and be independent as bulk of small and medium people in the business depend on handouts which are given by the BOC (bureau of outreach and communication). “There is a fundamental problem they are not willing to look at” he said.
Coming down heavily on media Tewari said that media is not philanthropic. “Over a period of time media has degenerated into becoming the pet performing poodle of the government. Freedom of press in India is a myth. It is a chimera. Huge corporate interest dictates the direction and trajectory of media depending upon what their business interest currently are. Except for print media, unfortunately I can’t say that for substantive section of electronic media”
Speaking on paid news the former minister said that when he was trying to amend the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867 and specifically tried to insert the section on paid news and penal provisions, ‘‘the push back from biggies in the media industry was so enormous that the bill has not seen the light of day till date.”
“The news and current affairs media is about educating people, presenting facts in perspective and bringing seriousness to public discourse. That’s the responsibility you need to discharge rather than looking at bottom lines and spin off cheap entertainment as news which does not require news licence” said Tewari in a scathing attack on the news.
I&B Ministry
IT Rules tweaks are clarificatory, not expansion of powers: MeitY
Govt signals flexibility as platforms push for clarity on user content rules
NEW DELHI: The Centre has sought to dial down concerns over its proposed amendments to the IT Rules, with Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology secretary S Krishnan asserting that the changes are intended as clarifications rather than an expansion of regulatory powers.
Pushing back against criticism from platforms and civil society, S Krishnan said the amendments “do not in any way actually give us wider powers” and are meant to remove ambiguity in how existing provisions are applied. He added that the trigger came largely from within the ecosystem, with intermediaries themselves seeking clearer guidance on compliance, takedowns and record preservation.
At the heart of the debate is the growing friction between platforms and policymakers over responsibility for user-generated content. Intermediaries have argued that they should not be treated on par with publishers, particularly when content is created and uploaded by users. Krishnan acknowledged this concern, noting that “a sharper distinction” between user content and publisher content is needed and is currently under examination.
The issue becomes more complex in enforcement scenarios. While registered publishers can be directly asked to modify or remove content, intermediaries often lack control over the original creator. “In such cases, the intermediary cannot direct those changes,” Krishnan explained, underlining the need for procedural nuance.
Another key proposal under discussion is to bring user-generated news and current affairs content within a more unified regulatory ambit, potentially under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The move follows suggestions that a single authority should handle such content, regardless of whether it originates from a publisher or an individual user.
Even as the government frames the amendments as a tidy-up exercise, fault lines remain. Industry players have flagged concerns over compliance burdens, especially for smaller businesses, and questioned whether advisories could effectively become binding without explicit legislative backing. Krishnan said the government is mindful of these risks and is exploring ways to ease obligations, including possible relaxations under certain provisions.
The ministry is also considering consolidating multiple advisories and guidelines into a more structured framework, a step widely seen as addressing long-standing confusion over what platforms are expected to follow.
On takedowns, the government has reiterated that due process will remain unchanged. Krishnan stressed that actions will continue to be governed by established procedures, with reasons recorded and review mechanisms in place. He also pointed to the surge in deepfakes and synthetic media as a factor behind rising content disputes, calling it a “scale challenge” for regulators.
Interestingly, Krishnan also framed social media platforms as commercial entities rather than pure vehicles of free expression, hinting at a broader shift in regulatory thinking as platform economics come into sharper focus.
With stakeholders seeking more time and, in some cases, a rollback of the proposals, the government has kept the consultation process open-ended. Krishnan said further revisions remain on the table, signalling a willingness to adapt the draft based on feedback.
For now, the message from MeitY is clear: the rules may not be tightening in intent, but the effort to define them more clearly is well underway.
