“When you challenge the status quo, you challenge a few people who have been comfortable for too long...reactions are bound to happen,” says Smriti Irani, Minister for Information and Broadcasting. It has been about seven-eight months since she has taken charge of the I&B Ministry and Irani has been courting controversies at regular intervals. “It is very easy not to do anything just to maintain popularity,” she says. A week after the latest controversy faced by her Ministry over guidelines to counter ‘fake news’, Irani spoke to BusinessLine on how she deals with professional challenges which many a times become personal attacks, the policy initiatives she is taking and the way forward. Excerpts:

Do you think a more consultative approach would have worked better and avoided the controversy on the proposed amendments in accreditation guidelines for journalists to deal with fake news? How do you define fake news?

It is not incumbent upon me to define fake news. For the past one month my officials and I have been in conversation with the President of News Broadcasters Association and the Chairperson of the Press Council of India. We had asked them that if we want a guideline for code of conduct or ethical conduct, what should that be. We were told that both NBA and PCI have conduct rules. We have many incidents of fake news, but we don’t have the the mechanism to determine the same.

We sought their help in defining fake news and in taking over the case-load as well as telling us what action should be taken.

Therefore, due consultation process was adopted and only after everyone was on board that the press note was released. It was clearly said that these bodies — PCI and NBA — will define fake news and set up a mechanism to tackle it. They will also advice the government.

But, no sooner the note was issued, an outrage broke. In fact, when the outrage started I tweeted that people who are upset about it can come and talk to me. It has been seven days since and nobody has come.

Everybody is outraged but nobody has read a notified copy of the amended guidelines because it was never notified. Everybody was jubilant when the guidelines were withdrawn. But, how do you withdraw something which was never notified.

But the key objection was on the move to suspend a journalist’s accreditation immediately even if he/she is accused of fake news...

This provision was indicated to us by the Press Council of India. In fact, we also said that if you have a step which is so stern, the entire process of determination needs to be quick. I asked the NBA President, if he would like to tweak it as NBA norms do not prescribe for it. Would the President like to hold a board meeting ... To which the President said as the head of the organisation he can commit to it. Now for us the word of these organisations is enough. It is recorded in our procedures. How much more consultation can we do?

What about the controversy on the composition of the committee to suggest norms for online digital broadcasting…

Online digital broadcasting affects the copyright Act, consumer and advertorial, it affects even FDI. This is a grey area for which we have no firm policy. So who are the people who will sit and make this policy? Secretaries of DIPP, Law, MHA, I&B, industry representatives like DG of AIR, the radio operators association, IBF and NBA. Broadcasting needs to be defined in terms of policy with evolving times.

What is your view on opening up the sector further? What about FDI in print? In the online media news, do you think there should be some FDI barriers?

We have to be very cautious given the change we see in broadcasting internationally.

I must acknowledge there are some international bodies of broadcasting who have been in touch with the Ministry. Broadcasters and the industry the world over are very sensitive to the fact that economies of scale are now getting impacted because of technology and because those lines are blurring and strategic investment also needs to be looked at.

We also have to see its impact on border areas. As far as FDI in print is concerned, I don’t see any changes in policy happening. The newspapers’ association that met me never expressed a need for any changes in FDI policy.

For online news, a view will be taken by the committee. This segment is in the nascent stage. So how much FDI limit will be appropriate, the committee will decide.

There was also a controversy surrounding your Ministry and Prasar Bharati...

Did any Prasar Bharati employees meet you and tell you that they have not got their salary? Was the compulsion to fall on the contingency fund because of the government or because they refused to sign the MoU. The MoU is a part of the general finance rules. The MoU is part of the directive of the Department of Expenditure.

The MoU says if you want to build the capital infrastructure then you please do so, but tell us what you want to build and to what end. MoU also includes spectrum fees. What has been signed is the MoU for 2017-18. We are asking them to sign the MoU for 2018-19 also.

What is your strategy on merging films units?

When there are parallel institutions doing the same job and taking up the same amount of money then it reeks of inefficiency. The NITI Aayog and the Cabinet Secretariat had given this Ministry a suggestion that we should merge the organisations that are doing the same work over 5-6 verticals.

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