Mobilenews24x7 Bureau (Exckusive)
This perhaps is going to be one of the most challenging chapter in the history of the Press or Media as experts have come out in scores to raise the eyebrows over the New IT Rules on the Fake News issues.
Or in a way the media is being shown the mirror by the administrative apparatus and a lens hangs over the freedom of expression reminding the colonial era when the country was singeing under its impact.
The New IT rules on fake news more or less, feel experts, has suddenly got stuck like an albatross in the neck of a scribe pushing him or her to fall in line as per the executive desires and remain far from any alleged conduct in their views awkwardly projecting the image of the ruling apparatus.
In today’s India, we all know judiciary is separate from the legislature and the executive. The Indian democracy, fortified by separation of powers and staunch adherence to principles of natural justice, disallows anybody from being a judge in their own cause.
But, surprisingly it is the same what is happening that one is being a judge or an arbitrator in his own case.
If, at all there is any content abuse by the media, until and unless it has provocative ramification then there are guidelines under the judicial discretion but it should not have the right to adjudge contents about itself in the media platforms.
Which, very likely may lead to impair any impartial vision of the fourth pillar in the country.
So, it is obviously very unsettling that, few officials under one wing of the ministry of I&B, judge over the contents and thus sieve what is fake and what is real. That is baffling indeed.
“On 6 April 2023, the Government of India notified Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2023 (IT Amendment Rules, 2023), and authorised a “fact check unit of the central government (itself!)” to identify, “fake or false or misleading” information in respect of, “any business of the central government”.
Principle of natural justice, as debated is crucial.
In context of these new IT rules, the IFF(Internet Feedom Federation) wrote in a statement:
“Assigning any unit of the government such arbitrary, overboard powers to determine the authenticity of online content bypasses the principles of natural justice, thus making it an unconstitutional exercise.”
‘Fake, False or Misleading’ who to determine
“The IT Rules, 2023 do not define what constitutes “fake or false or misleading” information, nor do they specify the qualifications or hearing processes for a “fact check unit,” Apar Gupta, non-executive director of the IFF, wrote in an article for The Indian Express.
Twist of language can often pave way for limitlessness. Even if the intent is to check ‘fake-news’ in a reasonable and controlled manner, open-ended terms can be construed differently by various stake-holders in a variety of ways. For example unsympathetic news can often be dubbed as fake.
It is more or less a very tight-rope walk all the way if ends are fastened to an executive convinces. Then the media can encounter a situation of ‘my way or the high way’ conundrum of sort.
Media is taught to abide the path of cease to be ruled by the system that rules.
