Combined Class on Public Service Broadcasting Model in India

 

 

(Disclaimer: This content has been compiled by the students of the Department of Journalism, LSR. These notes are to be used purely for academic purposes. No copyright infringement intended. The blogger will not be responsible in any manner whatsoever, regarding the authenticity of the information/ opinions of students expressed in this piece.)

 

 

On Wednesday, August 18, 2021, in continuation of the Mentor-Mentee Programme under the aegis of Dr. Vartika Nanda, a combined class for the Batch of 2022 and 2023 was undertaken. A group of five students of the Batch of 2022 took the initiative to conduct a presentation on the topic 'Public Service Broadcasting Model in India'. 

 

The objective of the combined class was to provide all students a platform to gain a better understanding of the topic and open a forum to discuss and take queries of the students on the same. 

 

A detailed presentation was followed by a discussion and feedback session for the students. The Batch of 2023 was also provided with documentary resources and other reading material on the topic. 

 

The following are the reading notes from the presentation.

 

 

INTRODUCTION

• What is Public Service Broadcasting?

 

Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. In many countries of the world, funding comes from governments, especially via annual fees charged on receivers. Public broadcasting may be nationally or locally operated, depending on the country and the station. In some countries a single organization runs public broadcasting. Other countries have multiple public-broadcasting organizations operating regionally or in different languages. Historically, public broadcasting was once the dominant or only form of broadcasting in many countries (with the notable exception of the United States). Commercial broadcasting now also exists in most of these countries; the number of countries with only public broadcasting declined substantially during the latter part of the 20th century.Public-sector media (state-funded) is not to be confused with state media (state-controlled), which is "controlled financially and editorially by the state."

 

The primary mission of public broadcasting is that of public service, speaking to and engaging as a citizen.The British model has been widely accepted as a universal definition.The model embodies the following principles:

• Universal geographic accessibility
• Universal appeal
• Attention to minorities
• Contribution to national identity and sense of community
• Distance from vested interests
• Direct funding and universality of payment
• Competition in good programming rather than numbers
• Guidelines that liberate rather than restrict

• PSB IN INDIA: Prasar Bharati

The Prasar Bharati is an autonomous body established under the Prasar Bharati Act of 1997. The company runs the numerous channels of Doordarshan, the public service broadcaster of the country as well DD News, the news channel. Though autonomous in nature, the Company comes directly under the regulation of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. The website of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India clearly states that - “the Ministry overviews matters relating to All India Radio and Doordarshan through the Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting Corporation of India Act),1990 which includes regulation of the use of All India Radio and Doordarshan by recognised national and regional political parties during elections to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies” – a not-so-veiled admission that the autonomy is just there in letter, not in spirit.

 

ORIGIN OF PRASAR BHARTI

 

The Prasar Bharati came into existence under an Act enacted by the Vishwanath Pratap Singh-led United Front government in 1990, to decouple the two state broadcasters – Doordarshan and All India Radio (AIR) from the influence of the government of the day. Those were the heady days of “independence of media” – as for the first time since freedom from the British, the state broadcasters would have been in no obligation to toe the government line. And finally, the people of the country can have access to news and views unmoderated by the government of the day. But soon came private satellite news television, beaming news from everywhere in the country – unmoderated, free and completely independent. Soon the “independence” of Doordarshan and AIR was not relevant anymore. And so, though Prasar Bharati stayed on as an autonomous body, the control, in spirit, quietly slipped back to the government. Today, it is widely perceived that DD News, from Prasar Bharati, is the balancing factor for propagating government views, in the face of onslaught of private news broadcasters who would not leave an opportunity to criticize the government. 

 

CONTENT AND REACH OF PRASAR BHARTI 

 

Prasar Bharati is mandated to provide content that serves the human development needs of India’s opportunity-deprived population. Therefore, a substantial part of its programming relates to education, health, agriculture, women’s issues and so on. 

 

However, the share of commercial entertainment in DD’s content pie has been growing in recent years due to a need for advertising revenue. Most of DD’s content is outsourced while AIR generates most in-house.

 

Prasar Bharati’s radio and television arms have phenomenal reach and penetration. AIR has a reach of 99.2% of the country’s 1.3 billion population. DD, with its 1,416 terrestrial transmitters, has a potential reach of 90% of the population. However, both arms of the public broadcaster are plagued by lacklustre programming, which is the primary reason for its falling numbers of listeners and viewers. According to a 2014 government-sponsored report, DD’s viewership was down to just 8% of the television-viewing audience, with even poor rural households having mostly switched to satellite television. 

 

Prasar Bharati’s radio and television arms have phenomenal reach and penetration. AIR has a reach of 99.2% of the country’s 1.3 billion population. DD, with its 1,416 terrestrial transmitters, has a potential reach of 90% of the population. However, both arms of the public broadcaster are plagued by lacklustre programming, which is the primary reason for its falling numbers of listeners and viewers. According to a 2014 government-sponsored report, DD’s viewership was down to just 8% of the television-viewing audience, with even poor rural households having mostly switched to satellite television. 

The only times DD and AIR witness a spike in audience are when they broadcast big-ticket events such as cricket matches or the prime minister’s popular monthly radio address to the nation, Mann Ki Baat. However, AIR scores over the private radio players in the country’s remote areas where FM signals do not have sufficient penetration.  

 

Important Committees of Prasar Bharati 

• CHANDA COMMITTEE (1964). 

The chanda Committee was formed in 1964 when Indira Gandhi was the Information and broadcast (I&B) minister under the chairmanship of A. K. Chanda. 

The report was submited in 1967. 

Their recommendation included separationn of Television and Radio units, which resulted in the separation of AIR and Doordarshan. 

It also recommended that programs Related to national interest must be broadcasted on a priority basis. 

• VERGHESE COMMITTEE (1978). 

 The Janta Government had appointed a working group on the autonomy of the Akashwani and Doordarshan in August 1977. 

The chairman of this Committee was B.G.Verghese

The Committee submitted its report on February 24th, 1978. 

This Committee main recommendation was formation of Akash Bharati or the National Broadcasting Trust, both for the AIR and Doordarshan. 

•  P.C. JOSHI COMMITTEE (1982). 

 Congress appointed P.C Joshi Committee in 1982, whose main term of reference was to prepare a software plan for Doordarshan. 

This group also emphasized on the absence of 'Function at Freedom’ in Prasar Bharati. 

The issue of autonomy was also considered by the Sarkaria Cominission (1987). From the different opinions gathered from various state governments and the intelligentsia in all parts of the country, the commission established that there was too much of political interference in the working of the  electronic media.

 

Prasar Bharati Act, 1990

 

The twin objectives of the Prasar Bharati (Broadcast Corporation of India) Act of 1990 are crystallised in Section 12 of the law. Section 12 (3)(a) mandates that Prasar Bharati ensure that “broadcasting is conducted as a public service.” Again, Section 12 (3)(b) reinforces that the purpose of establishing the corporation is to gather news, not propaganda. 

 

Legal Precedence

The Act came into existence after decades of post-independence struggle to free broadcasting from the stranglehold of the government. The legislative intent of the Act finds an echo in the Supreme Court’s 1995 judgment in The Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting versus the Cricket Association of Bengal, which said the “first facet of the broadcasting freedom is freedom from state or governmental control, in particular from the censorship by the government... Public broadcasting is not to be equated with state broadcasting. Both are distinct.” The Prasar Bharati Corporation’s main objective is to provide autonomy to Doordarshan and Akashvani in order to “educate and entertain the public.”

 

Past Efforts towards Establishment 

The efforts for an autonomous broadcasting corporation can be traced to the post-Emergency B.G. Verghese Committee, which recommended the formation of Akash Bharati or the National Broadcast Trust for All India Radio and Doordarshan. The panel, in its February 1978 report, highlighted the need for a fiercely unbiased and independent corporation as “the executive, abetted by a captive Parliament, shamelessly misused the Broadcasting during Emergency.” The next year, Information and Broadcasting Minister L.K. Advani proposed a Bill for an autonomous corporation called Prasar Bharati for AIR and Doordarshan. But the Bill lapsed. Once the Janata Party imploded and Indira Gandhi came back in power, the Congress government appointed the P.C. Joshi Committee in 1982, with a narrow mandate of evaluating the programming of Doordarshan. The committee emphasised the lack of functional freedom in Doordarshan and said the “Ministry of Information and Broadcasting should be reorganised and a separate board, on the lines of the Railway Board, should be created, in which only people with professional experience should get entry.” The Prasar Bharati Bill was passed in 1990. The Prasar Bharati Act was eventually implemented in 1997. 

 

Role and Importance of Autonomous Prasar Bharati

Public service broadcasting  (PSB) has an  important  role to play  in  providing access to and  participation in public life. Especially in developing countries, PSB can be instrumental in promoting access to education and culture,  developing  knowledge,  and  fostering  interactions  among  citizens.  For  the  majority  of  the  world population, comprising inhabitants of huge  rural areas and illiterate people, radio and television remain the most  available  and  widespread  ICTs,  with  radio  in  the  first  place  as  primary  communication  medium,” (Banerjee and Sevaniratne, 2005)

 

The need to protect the autonomous identity of Prasar Bharati Corporation was highlighted by its chairman, A. Surya Prakash, in a recent interview with The Hindu. Mr. Prakash alleged that the 1990 Act was being treated with “utter contempt.” For example, he referred to a Ministry directive that the Secretary, I&B, would appraise the Prasar Bharati CEO. Another directive wants the Prasar Bharati to get rid of contractual employees. That Prasar Bharati is an autonomous corporation is evident in Section 4. The Chairman and the other Members — except the ex-officio members, the nominated member and the elected members — shall be appointed by the President on the recommendation of a committee. The government has no part in the appointment. The Act points out that the CEO would be under the “control and supervision” of the Board and not the Central government.

 

Governmental Reins

The Centre still holds the reins of Prasar Bharati as it has the power to make rules for the corporation, issue grants or allowances and control the salaries of employees.

 

Section 22 gives the Centre powers to issue directions which it “may think necessary in the interests of the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India or the security of the State or preservation of public order” to not broadcast “any matter of public importance”.

 

On the context of what true autonomy means for a broadcasting corporation, the Supreme Court has referred to a ruling by the German Constitutional Court, which said that “freedom from State control requires the legislature to frame some basic rules to ensure that government is unable to exercise any influence over the selection, content or scheduling of programmes”.

 

Issues with PSB

• Autonomy.

autonomy regarding content has been a  question of its  constitutionality. Even in the  Verghese Working Group  Report  the  recommended  Trust  was  to  be  given  autonomy  guaranteed  by  an  amendment  to  the constitution. But  it is  worth pondering  whether this  autonomy falls within  the purview of  our Fundamental Rights. Article 19, 1(a) of the constitution guarantees freedom of thought and  expression though with caveat clauses. This is the right under which the Press guards its freedom. Broadcasting as a defined therefore can also be included within its ambit, as it is also a form of expression. Looking at it from the other side it should be right of every individual to have access to varying opinions. This has not yet taken place in case of Broadcasting as in the case of Press because not much litigation has taken place regarding the issue.

• Commercialization. 

With the onset of commercialization of air space many radio stations and television channels have cropped up whose programming motive is centred round Television Rating Points. Also they operate in a profit-maximizing structure. These channels bank on homogeneity of content which is expected to have mass appeal and hence larger viewer base. An argument may be that is there is mass viewing then that is what the public requires, but in an environment where the viewer is at the receiving end and has practically no say in the content creation the above argument proves shallow. It is somehow a vicious circle, that at one end the suppliers are choosing the content  and then reviewing the public  in  what they find  best  out  of  whatever is  being  provided, and  then defending the perpetuation of such a program on the basis that it is well received by the masses. This kind of programming does not help in educating or enlightening the viewers. Though it should not be concluded that television for masses and television of quality are mutually exclusive examples are shows like Satyamev Jayate

 

FUNDING AND INDEPENDENCE

Prasar Bharati is funded primarily by the state and does not earn any licence fee. It generates some revenue of its own, although this falls far short of its budgetary needs. For example, in 2016-17, the government’s grant to Prasar Bharati was INR3156 crore (CHF488.3 million). The same year, the total revenue earned by DD and AIR was only INR1282 crore (CHF198.4 million). In recent months, there has been a proposal to corporatise Prasar Bharati and this could have an impact on the broadcaster’s funding model. 

 

While the law grants full autonomy to the public broadcaster, its board needs the approval of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on matters such as new projects, recruitment, creation of new posts, and sale or mortgage of assets. This has sometimes led to friction between the board and the government, over alleged undue interference. Other concerns such as members of the board being political appointees and the top bosses of both DD and AIR being senior bureaucrats, have been raised.

 

ALL INDIA RADIO

 

All India Radio (AIR), officially known since 1956 as Akashvani (Voice from the sky) is the national public radio broadcaster of India and is a Division of Prasar Bharati. 

It was established in 1936.

AIR is the largest radio network in the world, and one of the largest Broadcasting organizations in the world in terms of the number of languages broadcast and the spectrum of Socio economic and cultural diversity it seems. 

AIR home service comprises 420 stations located across the country, reaching nearly 92% of the country’s area and 99.19% of the total population. 

AIR originates programming in 23 languages and 179 dialects. 

 

DOORDARSHAN

Doordarshan is an autonomous Public Service Broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Broadcasting Ministry of India and One of Prasar Bharati’s two divisions. 

It was established on 15th September 1959. 

DD which also broadcasts on digital terrestrial transmitters provides, Television Radio, online and mobile service throughout metropolitan and regional India and overseas through the Indian Network and Radio India. 

Since Private TV channels, were authorised in 1991, Doordarshan has experienced a steep decline in viewership. 

 

CONCLUSION

The way Public Service Broadcasting has been taken up in the country leaves room for much improvement in the spheres of Content and Control. Though the third sphere of financing does influence the broadcast it should not be considered the biggest impediment, this is said citing the example of PSBT.  In the 21st Century with technology capable of taking information to the remotest part of the country the debate of Public Service  Broadcasting becomes a necessity. If we are to develop as a  democratic nation we should make renewed efforts at making the concept viable. 

As we have seen India has to bank on its sole Public Broadcaster, Prasar Bharti, for these purposes and though it has the advantage of reach it is plagued by issues of autonomy from government control. On the other side there are  private  broadcasters  who  have  commercial  disposition  towards  programming  with  elements  of  Public Service Broadcasting here and there.   To forward an idea of a completely independent organization which chooses its content in the best interests of the public and is neither controlled nor financed by the government would be a utopian conception which would not be practically viable in today.   Thus what is needed is an organization which is established with a mandate of Public Service Broadcasting in partnership  with  the  government.  Government’s  role  will  similar  to  that  which  it  plays  in  PSBT,  of making available its reach to the corporation and giving it autonomy with regard to content.  Also such an organization would eliminate the monopoly of the government over Public Service Broadcasting. Such an organization which is representative of the people will help them in their right to free and fair information.

 

Video Links for reference: 

• https://youtu.be/ac11QPMQZ1Q  
• Prasar Bharati at 20: https://youtu.be/T3WYirXIqrU 
• History of Doordarshan Documentary: https://youtu.be/oxtRxWcKqc8 
• Latest Technological Additions to DD: https://youtu.be/rUiATGkilIk 

 

 

References:

• https://india.mom-rsf.org/en/owners/companies/detail/company/company/show/prasar-bharati/ 
• https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/what-is-the-prasar-bharati-act-all-about/article23034668.ece 
• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316918152_Development_of_Public_Service_Broadcasting_in_India_Roles_Challenges_and_Possibilities 

 

Written, Compiled and Edited by:

Arya Krishnan

Deepika Saini

Parvathy

Samridhi Chugh

Shivangi Chopra 

 

Batch of 2022

B.A. (Hons.) Journalism

Lady Shri Ram College for Women, New Delhi