Time Has Come to Put Rules in Place to Ensure That No One Player Dominates The Industry : I & B Minister at 15th Asia Media Summit

India hosted the 15th Asia Media Summit in New Delhi from 10-12 May, 2018. Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani presided as the chief guest over the inaugural ceremony of the Summit. In her address , she said that time has come to put laws, ethics and rules into place which will help in balancing the media industry so that one dominant player cannot rule the industry. The Minister said that India will have around 969 million internet users by 2021 and Indian media industry looks upon the digital world not only as a challenge but also as an opportunity. The Minister raised the issue of attracting, retaining and developing talent which frees good content from the trappings of revenue needs and brings about a balance in media institutions.

The two day 15th Asia Media Summit was hosted by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, jointly with the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), New Delhi and Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited (BECIL). The theme of this year's Summit was 'Telling Our Stories - Asia and More', aiming to encourage regional and bilateral dialogue and cooperation to respond to challenges to the broadcasting sector in the region. This was the first time that Asia Media Summit was held in India.

Giving a perspective of the expanding Indian media industry, Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani said, "India is the fastest growing advertising market expected to touch 10.59 billion US Dollars by the end of 2018 and the mobile spend is estimated to grow to 1.55 billion US Dollars in the year 2018. We have a vibrant media industry which has a direct established impact of Rs 1.35 lakh crore and indirect and induced benefits of Rs 4.5 lakh crore, with close to 4 million people associated with it."

The Minister said that the Asia Media Summit will throw up new ideas so  that we can look at pathways to strengthen media institutions for a better mankind. The dignitaries attending   the inaugural session of the Summit included Bangladesh Information Minister  Hasanul Haq Inu, Cambodia Information Minister Khieu Kanharith, and Korea Communications Commission Standing Commissioner Sam Seog Ko.

Abbas Naseri Taheri, Director General, International Department and Advisor to President, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), Iran and Shigeru Aoyagi Director, UNESCO, New Delhi Office were also among others to attend the inaugural session.

Addressing the first plenary session of the Summit , Union Minister of Electronics & IT and Law & Justice, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad said that for the Indian Government, freedom of media is integral to polity, duly recognized by the Constitution and reinforced by Judiciary in series of judgements. He said that the media has full right to inform, circulate, criticize, advice and counsel. The rights of media under the Constitution are also subject to reasonable restrictions.

In the concluding session, the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore gave away World Television Awards 2018, for two categories – Best TV documentary in Humanity category on ‘Migration or Immigration’, and Best TV Programme in Science/ Environment category on ‘Clean Water for Life’. Addressing the closing session he said, it is time for Asia to shape its own stories of human struggle against all odds, to brighten their future. The Minister said that Asia is developing stronger socially and economically. How better the media can help the people visualize the information necessary for their development, especially in the social media age, is the most important take away from the two day Summit, the Minister added.

The Plenary Sessions and parallel sessions held during the summit included media regulation policies, new technologies in broadcasting and film industry to enhance story-telling, media business models in new era, sustainable development stories, community radio and CEOs roundtable sessions, among others.                                        

 - PIB