Photo Source: Babushahi Network
Webinar on Digital Media Ethics Code organized by Ministry of I&B- More than 300 journalists participated
Common citizen at the heart of the Digital Media Ethics Code: Joint Secretary, I&B
Role of Punjab government for recognising and helping Web News Portals by implementing its own Digital Media Policy appreciated
New Delhi, July 19, 2021: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Tuesday organized a webinar on Digital Media Ethics Code for the stakeholders in the northern states/UTs of Ladakh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, and Himachal Pradesh. Apart from the officials of the PIB and PR departments of these states, more than 300 journalists participated in this webinar which was the first interaction of the I&B Ministry with the Digital media of this region.
Addressing a webinar on ‘Digital Media Ethics Code’ organized by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Vikram Sahay, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said that the Digital Media Ethics Code for OTT platforms and digital news publishers keeps the citizen at the heart of the grievance redressal mechanism.
He added that the rules establish a soft touch co-regulatory architecture involving a Code of Ethics and a three-tier grievance redressal framework for publishers on digital mediaThe webinar for the northern states was a continuation of the series of webinars organized by the Ministry through the regional units of the Press Information Bureau for stakeholders in various regions. These include webinars held for the southern, western, eastern, and north-eastern; and central regions during June and July 2020.
Sahay made a brief presentation explaining the various aspects of ‘Digital Media Ethics Code’ such as the Code of Ethics for the publishers; the three-tier grievance redressal mechanism, and the provisions related to furnishing and disclosure of information by the digital media publishers. He informed that the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has received information from over 1,800 publishers and added that several bodies and associations of publishers have sent communication regarding the constitution of self-regulating bodies under the Rules.
Digital news publishers, journalists, OTT platforms, and academia from the institutes of mass communication actively participated in the virtual interactive meeting. Several questions, doubts, and issues highlighted by the participants were addressed during the webinar.
Representatives from the Information & Public Relations Departments of the states/UTs; and heads of the regional media units of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting also attended the event.
Speaking on the issue of the state governments' role in recognising and helping this new media raised by some of the participants, Baljit Balli , Editor, Babushahi.com informed the participants the Punjab government has implemented its own Digital Media policy for the Web News Portals. The state government has been providing recognition to this media and the journalists working these portals.The web portals fulfilling conditions of the police have been duly empanelled for advertisements. He thanked the Punjab government for its cooperation with the digital media.