 bill no 223  of  2017 the press council (amendment) bill, 2017 byshri ninong ering, mp a billfurther to amend the press council act, 1978be  it enacted by parliament in the sixty-eighth year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the press council (amendment)  act, 2017short title and commencement(2) it shall come into force on such date, as the central government may, by notification, in the official gazette, appoint5amendment of section 22 in the press council act, 1978 (hereinafter referred to as the principal act), in section 2, after clause (d), the following clause shall be inserted, namely:—"(e) "press" includes newspapers, new channels and news agencies;"5substitution of certain words with other words throughout the act3 in the principal act, for the words "newspapers and news agencies", "newspapers or news agencies" and "the newspaper, the news agency", wherever they occur, the words "newspapers, news agencies and news channels", "newspapers or news agencies or news channels" and "the newspaper, the news agency and the news channel", respectively, shall be substituted4 in section 5 of the principal act,—amendment of section 5(a) for sub-section (1), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely:—"(1) the council shall consist of a chairman and twenty other members";(b) for sub-section (3), the following sub-section shall be substituted, namely:—"(3) of the other members—1015(a) ten shall be nominated in accordance with such procedure as may be prescribed from among the working journalists in newspapers and news channels other than editors, so, however, that the number of such editors and working journalists other than editors in relation to newspapers published or news channels broadcasted, as the case may be, in indian languages shall be not less than two and one, respectively;20(b) six shall be nominated in accordance with such procedure as may be prescribed from among persons who own or carry on the business of management of newspapers and news channels, so, however, that there shall be one representative each from the categories of big newspapers, medium newspapers, small newspapers, big news channels, medium news channels and small news channels;(c) one shall be nominated in accordance with such procedure asmay be prescribed from among persons who manage news agencies;25(d) three shall be members of parliament of whom two shall benominated by the speaker from among the members of the house of the people (lok sabha) and one shall be nominated by the chairman of the council of states (rajya sabha) from among its members:30provided that no working journalist who owns, or carries on thebusiness of management of, any newspaper or news channel shall beeligible for nomination under clause (a):35provided further that the nomination under clause (a) and clause(b) shall be so made that the among the persons nominated there is not more than one person interested in any newspaper or group of newspapers or news channel or group of news channels under the same control or managementexplanation—"for the purpose of clause (b),—(i) a 'newspaper' shall be deemed to be categorized as big, medium or small newspaper on the basis of its circulation per issue, as the central government, may, by notification in the official gazette, notify from time to time40(ii) a 'news channel' shall be deemed to be categorized as big, medium or small news channel on the basis of its viewership, as the central government, may, by notification in the official gazette, notify from time to time"amendment of section 13455 in section 13 of the principal act, in sub-section (2), after clause (i), the following clause shall be inserted namely:—"(ia) to facilitate the constitution and promotion of inter-industry, private and self regulatory institutions of newspapers and news channels and ensure their proper functioning;" statement  of  objects  and  reasonsthe press council act provides constitution of "the press council of india" for purpose of preserving the freedom of the press and for maintaining and improving the standards of newspapers and news agencies in indiaduring the period of enactment of the act, only the industry of newspapers and news agencies existed television was in experimental phase with development of audio-visual and satellite technologies, television news channels emerged as a major industry with greater share in information industry and greater influence on perception of citizens therefore, for improving the standards and to curb the malpractices of the broadcast news, the news channels are needed to be brought under the control of the press council of indiathe large number of members in the council leads to slow decision making besides, there are representatives from such government institutions which do not hold much relevance in relation to the news industry, say, representatives of the ugc, the bar council of india, and the sahitya academy the need is to reduce the number of representatives from the parliament from five to three to reduce the political influence on the council hence, the bill proposes to reduce the number of members of the council from twenty-eight to twenty, and its provisions include representatives from the news channel industryself regulation leads to better maintenance of the industry and lesser conflicts the basic elements of self-regulation usually consists of a code of practice or guidelines adopted by the industry and processes by which application of the code or principles may be assessed, complaints handled and corrections applied therefore, besides regulation by a public institution, the inter-industry regulation should be encouraged the bill also seeks to include the provision to constitute, promote and check the functioning of self regulatory institutions for newspapers and news channels within  the purview of the press council of indiahence this billnew delhi;ninong eringnovember 28, 2017 annexure (extracts from the constitution of india)definitions2     (a)     (b)     (c)     (d) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act;|    |    |    |    | (e)     |     |     |     |    ||----|----|----|----|----------|------|------|------|-----||   |   |   |   |         |     |     |     |    |5 (1) the council shall consist of a chairman and twenty-eight other members(2)     composition of the council(3) of the other members— (a) thirteen shall be nominated in accordance with such procedure as may be prescribed from among the working journalists, of whom six shall be editors of newspapers and the remaining seven shall be working journalists other than editors; so, however, that the number of such editors and working journalists other than editors in relation newspapers published in indian languages shall be not less than three and four respectively;(b) six shall be nominated in accordance with such procedure as may be prescribed from among persons who own or carry on the business of management of newspapers, so, however, that there shall be two representatives from each of the categories of big newspapers, medium newspapers and small newspapers;(c) one shall nominated in accordance with such procedure as may be prescribed from among persons who manage news agencies;(d) three shall be persons having special knowledge or practical experience in respect of education and science, law, and literature and culture of whom respectively one shall be nominated by the university grants commission, one by the bar council of india and one by the sahitya academy;(e) five shall be members of parliament of whom three shall be nominated by the speaker from among the members of the house of the people (lok sabha) and two shall be nominated by the chairman of the council of states (rajya sabha) from among its members:provided that no working journalist who owns, or carries on the business of management of, any newspaper shall eligible for nomination under clause (a):provided further that the nominations under clause (a) and clause (b) shall be so made that among the persons nominated there is not more than one person interested in any newspaper or group of newspapers under the same control of management[explanation—for the purposes of clause (b), a "newspaper" shall be deemed to be categorised as big, medium or small newspaper on the basis of its circulation per issue, as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, notify from time to time]        13 (1)         objects and functions of the council(2)         (a)         (b)         (c)         (d)         (e)         (f)         (g)         (h)         (i)         (j)         (k) to do such other acts as may be incidental or conductive to the discharge of the above functions         lok  sabha———— a billfurther to amend the press council act, 1978————(shri ninong ering, mp)gmgipmrnd—2671ls(s3)—13-12-2017