Maintaining quality of OTT content goal of Digital Media Ethics Code: Vikram Sahay

New Delhi, August, 18, 2021: "The common citizen is the centre of Digital Media Ethics Code 2021. The goal of the Ethics Code is to maintain the quality of content transmitted on OTT platforms while preserving the right to free expression.” This view was expressed by Shri Vikram Sahay, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in a special lecture organized by Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) on the topic 'Digital Media Ethics Code 2021'. The Director General of the Institute, Prof. Sanjay Dwivedi, Additional Director General K Satish Nambudiripad, Vice Chancellor of Kushabhau Thackeray Journalism and Mass Communication University, Raipur Prof. Baldev Bhai Sharma and IIMC Dean (Academic) Prof. Govind Singh were also present.
Shri Vikram Sahay said, “The role of digital media has grown tremendously over the years. Internet data usage has increased by 43 times in six years. India is the fastest growing OTT market in the world. This market is expected to reach 2.9 billion by the year 2024 with an annual growth of 28.6%. He said that concerns about content broadcast on the OTT platform have been received for some time, due to which the Digital Media Ethics Code has been created.”
Shri Sahay said that in India, people below 35 years of age prefer to read news online. People are spending 41% more time on these news websites in the last few years. Shri Sahai said that there are content regulators like Press Council of India for newspapers and Cable TV Networks Act, 1995 for TV news, but there is no such regulation for news on digital platforms. Same is the case with OTT.
The Joint Secretary clarified that the purpose of the Digital Media Ethics Code is to prevent the transmission of content that is objectionable to women and harmful to children. For this, news publishers, OTT platforms and program broadcasters will have to appoint a Grievance Redressal Officer and display information about these complaints. Apart from this, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting will constitute an inter-ministerial committee, which will deal with unresolved complaints by news publishers or regulatory bodies.
According to Shri Sahay, so far about 1800 news publishers have provided information about themselves to the ministry. The ministry is not registering any news portal or OTT platform, but the purpose of gathering information about them is that they can be contacted if they get any complaint about the program. He said that the purpose of the Ethics Code is to make the news publishers and OTT platforms aware about the rules, by which the unity, integrity and harmony of the country can be maintained.
The program was conducted by Prof. Sangeeta Pranvendra and the vote of thanks was given by the HoD of outreach Department, Prof. Pramod Kumar. Media teachers, journalists and intellectuals from various universities and colleges of the country, along with professors, officers and employees of all centers of Indian Institute of Mass Communication participated in this Interactive Session.