Date:23/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/23/stories/2008082360941300.htm

National

Broadcasters set up Authority to enforce code

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) – a collective of private news and current affairs channels – on Friday announced the setting up of a ‘News Broadcasting Standards (Disputes Redress) Authority’ to enforce its Code of Ethics and Broadcasting Standards.

The former Chief Justice of India, J. S. Verma, will chair the Authority, which will become operational from October 2. The other eight members have been equally divided into the ‘eminent persons’ and ‘editors’ categories.

The eminent persons are historian Ramachandra Guha, the former NASSCOM president Kiran Karnik, sociologist Dipankar Gupta and economist Nitin Desai.

The editors are Vinod Kapri of India TV, B. V. Rao of Zee News, Milind Khandekar of Star News and Arnab Goswami of Times Now.

The Authority has been established as part of the NBA’s commitment to the government that it would regulate itself as an alternative to the long-pending proposal for setting up a regulatory authority for the broadcast sector. Earlier, the NBA drew up its code of ethics and submitted it to the government.