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News |  08 Aug 2007 20:02 |  By RnMTeam

Govt mulling action against FM stations running mini newscasts

New Delhi: Though the government has thus far ignored some bits of public interest information being broadcast over FM radio stations, it might soon act against some channels that are giving mini newscasts.

Officials have stated that these channels could jeopardise further liberalisation of content, being considered by the government.

Clarifying that Community FM Radio offers some complex political pitfalls, officials say that the government would however overlook trivial information, which is relevant for the particular community, and the enablement clauses would hopefully act as a deterrent.

In an informal talk, officials admitted that CRSs do stand a clear chance of being misused, especially in an Indian context, where responsible use of a facility is less prominent unlike in some western cultures.

When queried about the possible slants that CRSs can adopt, specially in politicised states like West Bengal and Kerala, officials say that the enablement clauses require a CRS to keep 90 days of recordings available for checking any time. Such a provision would also act as a deterrent to overstepping limits set by the government.

Officials admit that there is no institutionalised monitoring mechanism in place for FM or CRSs, but if there are complaints, the department would send investigators and take surveys and interviews of local people on whether the misuse allegations were true.

If found guilty, the licenses would be withdrawn, officials said.

While grey areas exist, the official position is clear: there cannot be news broadcast on FM channels or CRS, and there is no proposal so far for news to be allowed in any form over private or community radio.

"Some FM channels are giving information about rainfall or temperature or traffic jams, trivial issues, which strictly speaking, violate the norms, because these are purely entertainment channels," says an official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

That the government has not initiated action does not imply that this is an official position, the officials clarify. These are merely tolerated as letting channels raise revenue.

However, it has come to the notice of the government that some channels are giving what they (channels) call one-minute news, which will not be tolerated, officials affirm.

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