Prasar Bharati needs mindset change: Ambika Soni

        Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni today  (14-09-2009) said the government was contemplating using ex-servicemen from the army and former policemen for the work of running television transmitters in the border areas. She said it was important that Indian broadcasting signals should be stronger than that coming from China or Pakistan.  Meanwhile, she emphasized that while the government was in favour of self-regulation, it had to find a middle path in view of the pressures to act from Parliament, the Court and the Public.

        Speaking on the eve of the 50th birthday of Doordarshan, Soni said there was also need for a change of mindset about Prasar Bharati which was autonomous in law but not in the public eye. She said it was clear from the programming, including films made by the Public Service Broadcasting Trust and others, that both Doordarshan and All India Radio had complete autonomy without government interference on a day-to-day basis. But the challenge was to deliver and also change the mindset.

       At the same time, she said it was necessary to accept the fact that Prasar Bharati was making socially relevant programmes unlike the private channels which were only fighting for television rating points, and it was going to areas that private channels did not find viable. In that sense, Prasar Bharati had managed to build its own model of public service broadcasting, Soni said, while addressing a meet on the role of public service broadcasting held as part of the Open Frame 2009 of the Public Service Broadcasting Trust which is supported by Prasar Bharati. She indicated that the Government intended to continue its support to the PSBT.

          Doordarshan was first established in the country on 15 September 1959 with an hour-long daily telecast but began regular telecasts only in the seventies. Noting that films made by PSBT for Doordarshan had won four awards in the 55th National Film Awards, Doordarshan Director General Aruna Sharma said the 50th anniversary was a time for introspection to examine the role of the public broadcaster. At the same time, it was also time to consider how Doordarshan could penetrate in a big way in the cable and satellite sector even as it had the highest terrestrial reach

          Eminent filmmakers Shyam Benegal, Mrinal Sen and Adoor Gopalakrishnan spoke of greater independence to the public service broadcaster. Benegal said there should be no pressure on Doordarshan to compete with private TV broadcasters. "Prasar Bharati has no business to be in the business of business," he added.

           Running Prasar Bharati should be the responsibility of the state, preferably through licensing so that it is not perceived as the voice of the government, and it should not have to compete with private channels.

         Noted jurist Fali S Nariman said Prasar Bharati should be the facilitator and protector of the rights enshrined in the Constitution and ‘should gamble with liberty’. He said the role of the media and its freedom had been recognised soon after independence, despite the fact that the Constitution does not specifically talk about freedom of the press, a term brought in by the Supreme Court. He said the ideal situation was of lesser controls as was the case in the early years.

        Sen said there was need to combat the legislation of dependence and run the public service broadcaster in an autonomous manner. Both he and Gopalakrishnan said it took them some time to accept the television medium for their films, but they realized they got greater reach through this.