Coming down on the audio-visual media, the Centre has decided to set up a grievance redress mechanism against inappropriate content telecast on news and entertainment channels, including FM radio.
Content being aired by private channels, local channels, private FM channels and community radio stations across the country will be answerable to complaints by the people approaching the forum.
Anyone who wants to complain against the violation of a programme or advertising code of the government can do so at their respective district magistrate or police commissioner’s office. The first-of-its-kind step will bring the content aired by licence holders under a regulatory mechanism; it also ends the self-regulation norm in place till now.
“If anyone has a complaint regarding any content broadcast over
television or radio, one can lodge a complaint with the chairman of the district level monitoring committee, i.e. the District Magistrate or the Police Commissioner, as the case may be,” read the government directive.
“People can also register their complaints through the online grievance portal of the department of public grievances at
pgportal.gov.in. Such complaints can also be sent to the Union information and broadcasting ministry,” sources added.
