New Delhi: The Supreme Court has said that Rs 1 lakh now imposed on television channels for airing disputed news is not enough while noting that the self-regulatory mechanism by News Broadcasters and Digital Association is ineffective.According to Livelaw, Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud said, “What are the fines that you impose? How much does the TV channel make from an advertisement in one program? No TV channel has any motivation to comply with your self-regulatory mechanism, and if at the end of a violation, you are going to impose a penalty of a lakh of rupees, there you have it.”The CJI said penalties imposed on TV channels for airing disputed news must be proportionate to the profits earned, rather than Rs 1 lakh fine, fixed way back in 2008. Only such fines can act as a deterrent for television channels to act with responsibility, he added.A three-judge bench, led by CJI, was hearing a petition by the NBDA challenging the Bombay high court’s 2021 verdict that contained adverse observations about the lack of teeth in the self-regulation of TV channels. The Bombay high court had held that trial by media interferes with the criminal investigation by police and issued a slew of directions to the media to be followed while reporting incidents involving suicide and death of persons. The high court was back then hearing a batch of petitions questioning the media trial in the actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case.While agreeing with the petitioners’ contention that there has to be no government interference in regulating the media, the apex court, however, said the self-regulatory mechanism has to be effective. The CJI said it will issue guidelines to strengthen the regulation of TV channels.
