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Monday, June 9, 2014

Govt mulls skilled head for DD, AIR


NEW DELHI, JUNE 9, 2014, DHNS:


The government is considering appointing a "professional" editor-in-chief to head the news divisions of Doordarshan (DD) and All India Radio (AIR), who will have "full freedom" to cover news as he or she thinks fit.

In an interview to a news channel, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar on Saturday said his ministry was also set to look for ways to make the two public broadcasters, along with Prasar Bharati, accountable to Parliament.

The Prasar Bharati, DD and AIR are currently controlled by the government. During the UPA regime, the Prasar Bharati board had recommended giving more operational autonomy to the public broadcasters and "real" control over DD and AIR.

"There is no question of the ministry interfering in appointments to, transfers within, or promotions within the news division of Doordarshan and AIR," Javadekar said during the interview.

The minister said his intention was to restructure Prasar Bharati in terms of editorial freedom, parliamentary accountability and its internal control over manpower to resemble more closely the structure of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). "This will, of course, take time," he added.

The plan assumes significance as in the wake of a controversial editing of Narendra Modi's interview by DD News during elections to the 16th Lok Sabha, Prasar Bharati Chief Executive Officer Jawahar Sircar had made a strong pitch for giving more operational autonomy to the public broadcaster and control over DD and AIR to avoid such controversies.

Read More at: 
http://m.deccanherald.com/content/412436/govt-mulls-skilled-head-dd.html/

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