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The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)’s recently-circulated consultation paper inviting suggestions to review the present policy guidelines on news and current affairs on FM radio stations stokes an issue that should have been laid to rest decades ago. Unlike the US, UK, Canada, Australia or, closer home, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka where news on radio is the norm, India is still stuck in an age-old mindset wherein government restrictions have inhibited the growth of a dynamic medium.
The TRAI paper is right initiating a review of the policies on radio. These also encompass the computation of licence fees, the duration of the licence, and most significantly, whether mobile phones must mandatorily have an FM radio receiver. But the right to broadcast news and current affairs is the most significant issue here. According to the existing rules, FM radio broadcasters can only air AIR bulletins in ‘exactly the same format’. This is a glaring anomaly in an age where private television channels and the Internet are allowed to broadcast news and current affairs programmes. While stakeholders have argued that radio is important as a source of information in rural areas where the availability of newspapers, TV and electrical connection is limited, the overriding argument here is one of principle: in a democracy, there must be free flow of information across mediums, subject to curbs in the form of fake news and hate speech. The government takes recourse to restrictions to freedom of speech including security, public order, decency/morality et al under Article 19(2) and has argued before various courts, where the policy has been challenged through different public interest petitions, that telecast of news on radio cannot be permitted as it “might be misused by anti-national and radical elements and there is no mechanism to monitor news content on all radio stations”. This is sheer paranoia.
The medium has played a much-lauded and critical role in strengthening peace initiatives in countries like Timor-Leste and Cambodia on one hand and has been a catalyst for social progression and rural development in young democracies like Nepal. It is simultaneously a legitimate business for the license-holders. So, in contrast to the best of global practices which have led to radio being a primary source of not just entertainment but crisp, professionally-produced and, most importantly, localised news, India is stuck in a time warp. FM channels have not warmed to broadcasting AIR news, as it could jar with the sound and tenor of their stations. Popular FM channels have been impressing upon governments for over two decades that they should be allowed to produce news content for their niche audiences.
Allowing FM and community radio stations to broadcast their own news content will help in creating an informed polity all around, and strengthen grassroots democracy. The law is ably equipped to deal with transgressions, such as fake news, hate speech and defamation.
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