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Directorate of Distance Education NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad Reading Material Post-Graduate Diploma in Media Laws 1.1 Media, Ethics & Constitutional Law By: Prof. Madabhushi Sridhar Acharyulu Dean, School of Law, Bennett University Former, Central Information Commissioner & Professor, NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad (For private circulation only) 1 © NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad (Print 2019) (For private circulation only) 2 Contents 1. CHAPTER I Disseminating Facets of Media 5 2. CHAPTER II Media and Ethics 17 3. CHAPTER III Media & Self-Regulation 27 4. CHAPTER IV History of Media Law in India 59 5. CHAPTER V Constitutional Rights of Media 65 6. CHAPTER VI Media & Other Constitutional Estates 131 ANNEXURE 1: SELECT READINGS & BIBLIOGRAPHY 201 Suggested Reading ANNEXURE 2 : CASE LAWS 207 Case Studies on Media and free Expression 3 4 CHAPTER I DISSEMINATING FACETS OF MEDIA 1.1. Understanding the Concept of Media What is media? Media is generally the agency for inter-personal communication. There are two kinds of communications. Personal Communication Mechanisms is one kind of media, while the other is the print and electronic media. They also can be classified as traditional media and modern media. 1.1.1. Personal Media The personal media or personal communication mechanisms are essential elements of mass media. These mechanisms include several aspects of social media. They are: a) Advocacy i) Traditional media forms like Burrakatha, Oggukatha, Street Plays, ii) Drama, Public meetings, Seminars, Workshops, Surveys, b) Legislative Advocacy: Asking MLAs, MPs to raise questions, discussions in their respective Legislative Floors, or asking members of Local bodies to raise these issues in their respective deliberative bodies, etc.) c) Social Justice Lobbying. Coordinating with NGOs, Social Service Organizations, Government Agencies, d) Public Interest Litigation, Lawyer Groups, e) Social Action, Agitation, Demonstrations etc. 1.1.2. Mechanical Media a) Print Media i) Newspapers (News Releases, Press Conferences, Interviews, covering events, issues, probing into violations of Human Rights, taking the reporters to the scenes of violations, asking investigating officers to act on, mobilizing the letters to the editor, and writing columns to build public opinion against violations, News photos, etc.) 5 ii) Pamphlets, (booklets, brochures, letters, writing complaints to authorities, etc.) iii) Books iv) Photographs, Photo Exhibitions etc. b) Electronic Media i) Radio (Radio Talks, Interviews and Plays) ii) Films and Documentaries iii) Television (Talks, Interviews, Serials, News-bits, News Stories) In more specific terms, the different media can be explained as follows: 1. Print: printed word, pictures etc., which appeal to the sense of sight. These include newspapers, periodicals, publications, advertisement etc. 2. Radio: sense of sound 3. Audio-visual: appeal to both visual and auditory sense. Eg. Television and Films, Video, Internet. 4. Traditional: Puppetry, folk dance, folklore, community singing, rural theatre. 5. Oral: public meetings, group discussions, individual contacts, etc. 6. Outdoor media- printed pamphlets, posters, hoarding, cinema slides, public address systems, advertisements on Buses, Trains, and other transport centres like bus stations and Railway stations or traffic centres. 1.1.3. The Purpose of Communication & Media Media provides a vehicle for communication. Communication in the world of men and animals is an ever-continuing process on all the time. It is as necessary to human, animal and vegetable existence as life itself. Halt communication and the life processes wither and die. The need for communication is as basic as the hunger for food and drink. "Communication is the name we give", say Ashley Montagu and Floyd Matson,1"to the countless ways that humans have of keeping in touch- not just words and music, pictures and print, nods and becks, postures and plumages; to every move that catches someone's eye and every sound that resonates upon another's ear". Interaction, interchange, a sharing and commonness are various phases of communication. The word communication is derived from the Latin "Communis", which means 'common'. Commonality is the basic idea. Denis McQuail says that the 1 Ashley Montagu and Floyd Matson, The Human Connection, (McGraw Hill, 1979). 6 communication is not only a process, which increases commonality but also requires elements of commonality for it to occur at all2. According to him, ―the human communication is the sending from one person to another of meaningful messages". Communication encompasses all forms of expression to serve the purpose of mutual understanding. What is Communication? Peter Little explained the communication as the process by which information is transmitted between individuals and or organizations so that an understanding response results. The important elements of the communication can be explained in Professor Harold D. Lasswell's question, "Who says what in which channel, to whom with what effect". The elements are, the sendor, 'who', the message 'what', and the feedback 'effect'. All disturbances whether technical, physical, cultural, or psychological are clubbed under the comprehensive term 'noise'. They are also called 'barriers' to effective communication.3 The mass media instruments are founded on the idea of mass production and mass distribution, which in turn results in 'mass media culture'. The communication is a natural attribute of human beings. The need for communication is as strong and as basic as his/her need to eat, sleep and love. For a modern human being it would be impossible to function without the mass media of communication, as they become part of the fabric of modern civilization. Interaction is basic of communication. Interaction between living beings and environments in a sociological group is communication. Excommunication, cut off from communication, is a form of punishment. Deprivation of communication leads to innumerable problems. "The apparent effects of sensory deprivation and sensory overload leads to anxiety, apathy, impaired judgments, strange visions, and something akin to schizophrenia"4. Mass Communication: Mass communication is generally identified with the modern mass media like press, radio, television, cinema, video and now the internet. As generally interpreted the mass media are the press, cinema radio and television. But books, magazines, pamphlets and direct mail literature and posters also need to be included under the label as their reach extends to vast heterogeneous masses. They are media, not communication itself. They are conduit for communication. Media is vehicle for communication, which is in turn vehicle for emanating thoughts and responses and reactions to them. As Charles Wright said in Mass Communication: A Sociological Perspective,1959. Indeed, the term mass communication ought to refer to the totality of communication which takes within its compass not only by the electronic media, but also the spoken word, song, drama, dance, painting, sculpture and architecture. Traditional community media like the Keerthana, and by the whole treasure-house of folk song, folk-dance, and folk theatre, puppet show, Surabhi 2 Denis McQuail, Communication, Longman, 1975 3 Keval J. Kumar, Mass Communications in India, p 7 4 Clark and Blankenburg, You and Media, 1973, p42 7 theatre, Harikatha, Burra katha, Yakshaganam, any public meeting, religious fare like Ganapathi Navaratri or Devi Navaratri, are organs of the mass media. With the invention of printing press, the multiplication process became easy and fast. Radio came to be the most effective and far-reaching. Cinema is the most impressive medium. The obvious advantage of the modern electronic media is that they are 'the great multipliers'. Mass Communication has now become an independent academic discipline and can be considered as an important aspect of modern man's study of his civilization. This discipline has a bearing on sociology, anthropology, economics, politics, literature, the performing arts and the electronic media. The electronic media expanded the reach to millions of people in the every nook and corner of the world. The 'mass', in mass media has kept stretching its meaning with increasing reach of each modern inventive tools of media like television and internet. Functions of Mass Media: Modern mass media serve several functions. According to Harold Lasswell, there are three major functions-surveillance of the environment, interpretation of the information and prescription for preservations and the transmission of heritage. Surveillance refers to information or 'news' about happenings in society. The mass media ought to help people to correlate their response to the challenges and opportunities which appear on the horizon and to reach consensus on social actions5. The mass media helps people to keep their culture and heritage alive and to transmit it to others. It‘s another important function is entertainment. Another equally vital function is advertising, that is it helps in selling the goods and services. In fact, this commercial function helps the mass media instruments to survive and do business. It is the vehicle of social and religious reforms and of political independence. It incidentally purveys news and views. It has a major role as a forum for ventilating the views and grievances of the people, as a monitor of the performance of those in the authority and as a participant in the process of nation building. Justice

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