History of Media Regulations

Abstract

Media or press is said to be the 4 th pillar of the Indian democracy. Regulation of Media vary
from country to country based on the nature of polity, religion, economy, culture. In Indian
perspective and its system of Parliamentary Democracy truth is that, the Press is free but has
certain reasonable restrictions imposed by the Constitution of India 1950 . Before the impact
of globalization was felt, the mass media was wholly controlled by the government, which let
the media project only what the government wanted the public to see and in a way in which it
wanted the public to see it. However, with the globalization and privatization, the situation
has undergone a huge change. Media fulfils several basic roles in our society. One obvious
role is entertainment. Media can act as our imaginations, a source of fantasy, and an outlet for
relaxation. Before the communication satellites, communication was mainly in the form of
national media, both public and private, in India and abroad. Then came the 'transnational
media' with the progress of communication technologies like Satellite delivery and ISDN
(Integrated Services Digital Network), the outcome was the development of local TV, global
films and global information systems. Media law is not uniform and integrated body of law
like the law of contract or the law of crimes. The fact that media should be free, has emerged
and became the reality only after the press itself had become commonplace. The invention of
machine printing in the 15 th century had led to the proliferation of books, newspapers, that
spread the idea faster than before. It is a mixture of laws and ethics that are considered most
important for a working journalist and media industry. Therefore it sometime becomes
necessary to impose certain legal checks on transmission and communication. In the due
course this paper would discuss the various aspects of media in India and in other parts of the
world.