NEW DELHI: In a bid to check the rising menace of paid news, the government is considering amending the Press and Registration of Books and Publications Act.

The recommendation was made by the Parliamentary Standing Committee which examined the amendment bill of 2011 in this regard.

A few instances related to electronic media have been brought to the notice of the government, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said.

Whenever such allegations/grievances/petitions regarding unethical practices and incessant misreporting are received, the government takes appropriate action under the Programme and Advertising Code prescribed under Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 and the Rules framed thereunder.

The issue of paid news has also been examined by the Press Council of India. It had submitted a report on paid news to the government for necessary action after a sub-committee studied the issue. Although the Government had initially released only a short summary of the report, it had later placed the report on the Council?s website following an RTI application.

PCI had recommended amendment to the Representation of the People?s Act 1951 to make incidence of paid news a punishable electoral malpractice and suggested that the PCI must be fully empowered to adjudicate the complaints of ?paid news? to give final judgment in the matter among others.

The report had also suggested measures to curb the menace of paid news like setting up of a special cell in the Election Commission for action on such complaints and self-regulation by media and awareness generation.

PCI had cautioned the media to refrain from publishing news masquerading as advertisement and vice-versa.

The Election Commission has also taken cognizance of this malaise and initiated steps to check incidence of election time paid news, which includes transparency in the money spent by candidates on advertising, a ban on exit and opinion polls until the last round is over, and similar other measures.

Meanwhile, the Ministry is in the process of making a reference to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to examine alleged monopolistic practices in the distribution segment of the broadcasting sector.

The Government made a reference to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on 16 May last year to examine the entire gamut of media ownership issues.

The Ministry has requested Trai to provide recommendations on specific issues of vertical integration within the various segments in the broadcasting sector as in the present scenario more and more broadcasting companies owning television channels are venturing into various distribution platforms, cable TV distribution, DTH, and IPTV etc. and similarly many companies owning distribution platforms are also entering into television broadcasting.

Trai has also been asked to look into the issue of horizontal integration wherein companies have controls/ownerships across print, TV and radio. The broadcast sector?s recommendations are awaited.

NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Friday called for views from stakeholders on various restrictions put forth on ownership of media, including on powers to the government to prevent any entity from entering the media sector in public interest.

In its second consultation paper on media ownership, Trai has also asked stakeholders to give their views if there are any entities which need to be precluded from owning media enterprises, in addition to political parties, religious bodies, government or government-aided bodies which have already been recommended by the regulator to be disqualified from entry into the broadcasting and distribution sectors.

The discussion paper has listed out 32 issues on which it wants stakeholders to give their views, including on ownership rules for vertical integration between broadcasting and distribution entities.

The paper has also sought views on what should be the rules/restrictions in case of mergers and acquisitions in the media sector, and media ownership rules within and across media segments.

The paper has been placed on the TRAI website and written comments invited from stakeholders by 8 March and counter-comments if any by 15 March.

It has also sought views on what methodology to be adopted to measure ownership or control of an entity over a media outlet, identification of genres to be considered while framing media ownership rules, and prescribing norms for mandatory disclosures by media entities.

Trai also wants discussion on issues relating to identification of media segments wherein media ownership rules are to be prescribed, and identification of relevant markets for evaluating various parameters to be used for devising ownership rules and the methodology for measuring these parameters.

The paper had been issued at the request of the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry made last year following a report of the Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad.

Trai said it was felt that reasonable restrictions may need to be put in place on ownership in the media sector, to ensure media pluralism and to counter the ills of monopolies. It pointed out that such restrictions do exist in many international markets.

However, media ownership rules, Trai said, should be so designed to strike a balance between ensuring a degree of plurality of media sources and content, and a level playing field for companies operating in the media sector, and providing freedom to companies to expand, innovate and invest.

Trai had prepared a similar paper in 2008, but the Ministry felt that the situation had undergone a sea-change since then.