Media law in India

The Right to Information is derived from our fundamental right of expression under Article 19 of the Constitution of India. If we do not have information on how our Government and Public Institutions function, we cannot express any informed opinion on it. This has been clearly stated by various Supreme Court judgments, since 1977. It is worthwhile to understand the underlying assumption in this well entrenched belief. Why is the freedom of the media considered as one of the essential features for a democracy? Democracy revolves around the basic idea of Citizens being at the center of governance and rule of the people. On 11 and 12 May, 2005, the two houses of Parliament passed the Right to Information Act as Act 22 of 2005. This has now become operational from 12 October, 2005 - significantly Vijayadashmi. Right to Information (RTI) existed since the day the Constitution of India was framed. The present Act only gives procedures. Right to receive information- the expression “freedom of speech and expression” in Article 19(1)(a) has been held to include the right to acquire information and disseminate the same. It includes the right to communicate it through any available media whether print or electronic or audio-visual, such as advertisement, movie, article or speech, etc. This freedom includes the freedom to communicate or circulate one’s opinion without interference to as large a population in the country, as well as abroad, as is possible to reach. However, an encroachment upon one's privacy is only shielded if the offender is the state and not a private entity. If the offender is a private individual then there is no effective remedy except in tort where one can claim damages for intruding in his privacy and no more. the right can be only limited by reasonable restriction under a law for the purpose mention in article 19(2) of our constitution. Despite all these shortcomings, legislation guaranteeing the right to information will be a major step towards ensuring a participatory developmental process in the country.

2019

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. The right to access information is a central component of any modern democracy founded on people sovereignty. The constitution of Sri Lanka, in Article 3, Vests power in the people and explicitly recognizes the sovereignty of the people. The people can effectively exercise power through their representatives only if the system of governance is accountable and transparent. Right to Information Act (RTI) is capable to achieving statutory purposes such as good governance, accountability, transparency and democracy of the state. However the power flows from the people to the leaders of government, who hold the power temporarily. Laws & policies require majority support in parliament, but the rights of minorities are protected in various ways. Citizens have an obligation to become informed about public issues, to watch carefully how their political leaders and representatives use their powers and to express their own opinion and interests. The key role of citizen in a democracy is to participate in public life. According to the concept democracy; rule of law protects the rights of citizens, maintains orders and limits the power of government. All citizens are equal under the law. No one may be discriminated against on the basis of their race, religion, ethnic groups or gender. Office holders cannot use their power to enrich themselves. Independent courts and commissions punish corruption, no matter who is guilty. But the question is, does it happen in real life. Therefore to empower the democracy of the state right to access information should be developed and every citizen must be aware of this right as their fundamental right.

International Journal of Legal Developments & Allied Issues

RTI Act 2005 is the welfare legislation and one of the most progressive reforms in recent years, which enhance the ambit of Fundamental Rights available to citizens under Part III of the Indian Constitution. RTI Act is considered an advancement of the Right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a). Various judicial pronouncements held that Right under Article 19(1)(a) includes the Right to know where citizens can acquire information from public authorities. Democracy and RTI are interrelated, ensuring good governance, transparency, and government accountability towards its citizens. Previously Government was immune from answering its action. People electing democratic Government had no idea about policy matters, their progress, and implementation. That led to various instances of corruption, nepotism, and favouritism. Thus, the Right to know through RTI Act, 2005 is a tool in the hands of the citizens, which ensures “participatory democracy” and reasoned exercise o...

On July 2, 2012, Verizon filed a brief with the United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit, stating that the open-network, anti-discrimination rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission “violate[d] the First Amendment by stripping [Verizon] of control over the transmission of speech on [its] network.” Verizon argued that its broadband network was its “microphone” and its “newspaper,” and in doing so essentially claimed the online communications of some 200 million Americans as its own. This article provides a constitutional response to Verizon. It describes how U.S. First Amendment and communications law has evolved to a point where Verizon’s argument is possible, and compares U.S. law with network speech jurisprudence from a different but related constitutional culture. The First Amendment, while understood as a “free speech” protection, is not infrequently just the opposite -- either missing in action, or applied in a way to lessen the amount of speech, information, and opinion available to the public. One reason for this is that Courts have typically focused on its “government shall make no law” language rather than the “freedom of speech” phrase at the end of the First Amendment. The German post-war constitution (the Grundgesetz or Basic Law), by contrast, incorporates a more affirmative idea of free speech, built on the ashes of a dictatorship that misused mass communications before and during World War II. The German Constitutional Court, seeking to break with the past, has read the Basic Law’s speech article (Article 5) to guarantee the “institutional freedom” of broadcasting and the press, and to protect speech and information-transfer as dynamic processes. Article 5 protects individual speech as the First Amendment does, but also requires the state to safeguard the opinion and information-transfer functions of electronic media, as a condition precedent to democracy. This is a slightly edited version of the article that appeared at 36:1 Hastings International & Comparative Law Review 145 (2013). Keywords: net neutrality, comparative constitutional law, electronic networks, free speech, telecommunications, information, common carriage, common carrier, First Amendment, Internet protocol, Brand X, Red Lion, German, Constitutional Court, Habermas, monopoly, competition Suggested Citation: Witteman, Christopher, Information Freedom, A Constitutional Value for the 21st Century (January 15, 2013). Hastings International and Comparative Law Review, Vol. 36:1, No. 145, 2013. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2218076

The participants in a democratic system have a right to know what, how and why of any decision, change or continuity, regarding or of its functioning. The right is inherent in citizens by virtue of their owning the system. Therefore, citizen's right to information follows, as a natural corollary in a democracy and any attempt to wide information or to create opacity cannot augur well for its health. Some conscious citizens and civil society organization have constantly raised the demand for an effective provision for the right to information. Dwelling on the relation of constitutional right to freedom of expression and the right to life, various judicial pronouncements endorsed its legal justification. It is expedient to provide for furnishing certain information to citizen who desires to heave it. In a government where all the agencies of the public must be responsible for their conduct, there cannot but few secrets. The people have a right to know every public act, everything that is done in a public way, by their public functionaries. The present research work is based on the theoretical study of the topic. The theoretical work will deal with the literature relating to right to information of the citizen from their government. A comprehensive study shall be conducted through the websites, Journals, and newspapers and books. With an access to information law, governments must establish record keeping and archiving system, which serves to make them more efficient, reduce discretion mechanism and allow them to make better decision based on factual information. Moreover, greater transparency can help reestablish trust between government and its citizens.

Right to Information is a fundamental human right of each person. Information is playing a vital role in modern socio‐economic developments. The poor homeless citizens of special needs are also empowered with the Right to Information Act 2005 in India.They may also know the details of government initiatives for the welfare of the society. The famous French thinker Michel Foucault once opined control is got from learning and information is the essential segment of information. Information makes men wise and it is competent enough to cope up with the modern world.

The article makes a passing review of the basic principles and salient features of Freedom of Information as a piece of legislation and an authentic precondition for good governance crucial in the policy-making and decision making phases of an honest, accountable, responsible and transparent society. As an added dimension to the Freedom of Information debate, the paper consequently analyze key topical affairs in the context of freedom of information pertaining to questions on national security, deliberative privilege, internal rules, burden of proof, public interest override, notice of denial, information commission and criminal liability in which the government and the citizenry may have a differentiated response on how the Freedom of Information may be best construed and understood as a matter of public policy. Finally, the article concludes with some enduring Freedom of Information challenges which policy-makers still have to deal and contend with in the formulation and implementation of a better and an effective Freedom of Information legislation.

2013

This paper is intended to inform policy makers and implementers – both within government and civil society – concerned with the Right to Information (RTI). The paper provides a narrative on how RTI has evolved in the country with some comparisons made with the international context. The paper stresses the importance of external support to RTI. This is followed by a discussion on the resistance and challenges to implementing RTI across a range of stakeholders – political parties, government and civil society. The report makes use of results and evidence coming out of key interventions funded by the Enabling State Programme (ESP). Lessons and Top Tips are drawn on the implementation of initiatives focusing on RTI which could be useful in the design and implementation of governance-related projects in the future.