Centre working on a bill to regulate digital media: I&B Minister Anurag Thakur

The Centre is working on a bill to regulate digital media, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said on Wednesday. He added that with the development of electronic and digital media, communication of news has become multidimensional. "Digital media presents opportunities as well as challenges. To have a fine balance, the government will see what can be done on this," the Union Minister said.

"I would say that changes have to be brought in law, we will bring that to make your work simple and easy. We are working to introduce a bill," he said at an event organised by Hindi news daily Mahanagar Times.

Talking about the registration of newspapers, Thakur stated that the process of registration of newspapers will be simplified and the central government will soon bring a new law to replace the 1867 Press and Registration of Books Act. With the new law, it will be possible to complete the registration process in a week through online mode. Currently, it takes about four months to complete the process.

The Minister urged the media to do its work "responsibly" and avoid creating an atmosphere of "fear and confusion."

At an event organised by the Press Council of India to celebrate National Press Day, the Union Minister had said last week that media houses that “err intentionally’ will erode media credibility. “Bias and prejudice must be abjured,” said the minister, adding, “We may have left the pandemic behind us, but the debilitating infodemic seems here to stay.”

Thakur urged the media to reflect and self-introspect on how to immunise itself from the “virus of infodemic” that continued to inflict malicious disinformation on societies across geographies.

(With inputs from PTI)

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