Almost a year after the Directorate of Advertising and Publicity’s (DAVP) new media policy came into being, the government showed that it was determined to go after and punish those who publish “fake and irregular publications.”
Commenting on the issue, Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting (I&B), Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, said. “It is about maximum outreach with minimum cost. The idea is to do away with irregular publications and effective utilisation of the government’s advertisement budget towards authentic publications.”
The new guidelines have introduced measures that have now made it harder for media organisations to indulge in fraudulent activities than ever before. Top sources in the I&B ministry said that earlier media organisations would fraudulently increase staff strength and circulation in order to acquire government advertisements. This scheme has been done away with as, for the first time, a new formulation has been introduced to reward those publications who employee more staff.
In response to a question in the Rajya Sabha, a document submitted by DAVP to the Upper House detailed that for the first time a ‘New Marking System’ had been introduced.
As the document stated, those who employed 1-5 staff would get 5 marks; 6-10 would get 10 marks; 11-15 would get 15 marks and 16 and above — 20 marks. This bid to reward publications who employ more staff is a novel move forward.
As for circulation, the DAVP’s move to strengthen the hands of organisations such as the Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI) and the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) is a welcome one. The procedure now involves newspapers/journals who are empanelled with DAVP to “get RNI/ABC certification for circulation that exceeds 45,000 copies per published day. For circulation, up to 45,000 copies per publishing day certificate from Cost/Chartered Accountant/ Statutory Auditor Certificate/ ABC is mandated.’’
Such moves are welcome, but the government also made it clear that those who would not follow DAVP guidelines would be held to account. This was seen recently when the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting suspended 804 newspapers/publications after they failed to submit their monthly copies to DAVP before the 15th of the subsequent month to the DAVP and Press Information Bureau (PIB) offices, as is required by government guidelines. The fact that Rashtra Dharna— a monthly journal launched by former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee — was also part of the publications banned, showed the impartiality of the process.
“Despite issuing advisories every month, some publications did not submit copies for the last five months and they were suspended only after that,” said a senior officer on condition of anonymity.
The officer said that there was cause for compromise. “Revocation of suspension will be considered by the government if publications start adhering to the clauses of DAVP’s print media policy,” he added.
WHAT DAVP’S NEW POLICIES MEAN
Filtering out ‘Fakes’
Earlier, news organisations would fraudulently increase their staff strength and circulation to get government ads. A ‘New Marking System’ introduced by DAVP will reward organisations who hire more employees. DAVP will also strengthen the hands of the ABC/RNI to ensure that news organisations are not able to exaggerate or falsify circulation figures
Regional outreach
DAVP’s new guidelines have focussed on incentivising regional media. There will be a relaxation in the empanelment procedure to encourage publications regional language/dialects, small and medium newspapers, mass circulated newspapers (circulation >1 lakh), newspapers in North Eastern states, Jammu & Kashmir and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
New Marking System
A marking system is based on six objective criterion streamlines the process: Circulation certified by ABC/RNI (25 marks), EPF subscription for employees (20 marks), Number of pages (20 marks), Subscription to wire services of UNI/PTI/Hindustan Samachar (15 marks), Own printing press (10 marks), Annual subscription payment to PCI (10 marks).
Combating Tensions
DAVP’s new policies for print, radio and web have stated that it will avoid releasing advertisements to newspapers /journals, radio channels and websites, which “incite or tend to incite communal passion, preach violence, offend the sovereignty and integrity of India or socially accepted norms of public decency and behaviour.”
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