The government has reportedly said that all mainstream media, including print and electronic, will have to comply with the provisions of IT Rules, 2021 with immediate effect without exemption.
The government’s clarification has come in the backdrop of the recent letter written by the National Broadcasters Association (NBA) to the ministry of information and broadcasting (I&B) wherein the former urged the latter to exempt and exclude the traditional television news media and its extended presence on digital news platforms from the ambit of the IT rules. According to NBA, such media platforms are already sufficiently regulated by various statutes, laws, guidelines, codes and regulations.
Noting that code of ethics requires such digital platforms to follow the exiting norms or content regulations, which are in vogue for the traditional print and TV media, the Ministry said, there is no additional regulatory burden for such entities.
Accordingly, it said, the request for exempting the digital news content of such organisations from the ambit of digital media rules 2021 cannot be acceded to.
