'Keep Government, Politicians Out Of Broadcast Business'

NEW DELHI: The national media policy should announce governments and politicians should not be in the business of broadcast, sector regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman Rahul Khullar said.

"Politicians... government, state governments, their organs have absolutely no business whatsoever being in broadcasting and platform space. It is my view that government needs to announce this as integral part in national media policy," he said at the CII Big Picture Summit.

On Aug 12, the TRAI released the "Recommendations on the Issues relating to Media Ownership", which proposed a single independent media regulatory authority for television and print media.

"The regulatory body should consist of eminent persons from different walks of life, including the media. It should be manned predominantly by eminent non-media people," the recommendation said.

The job of the media regulatory authority will be to check and impose penalties for "paid news", "private news" and issues related to editorial independence.

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