This article is written by Khushi Sharma, currently pursuing B.A.LLB (Hons) from IIMT and School of Law, IP University. This is an exhaustive article which deals with the freedom of the press and its significance in entertainment law.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Every citizen has a basic knowledge of various Fundamental Rights offered by the Constitution of the country to them. The knowledge of these rights are not swayed from the citizens on the ground that there must be knowledge of law for the same. Even if a person has no base-level knowledge about the law of the country; they would still have some about the Fundamental Rights offered. As we are aware of the fact that we have in total six Fundamental rights offered by the Indian Constitution to us, today we will deal with a particular aspect of one such fundamental right i.e Right to Freedom.
Right to freedom further grants us 6 sub freedoms from which we are going to understand in brief about ‘Freedom of the press’ and its significance in Entertainment Law. Freedom of the press is granted under the right to freedom of speech and expression, explaining that every citizen, organisation or authority has the freedom to speak or to express his/her thoughts or opinion on any matter. Similarly, such right or advantage has also been granted to the press. Now, as we have a brief about ‘Freedom of the Press’ let us now see what is Entertainment law and what importance does freedom of the press have in respect to it.
Entertainment law which is also referred to, as the Media law means the law or the legal services which are provided to the Entertainment industry and such industry includes Movies, Television, Music, News media and Advertising, etc. The relation between freedom of the press and the entertainment law is really crucial as it regulates all the content and matters which needs to be addressed to the citizen in the print form. In this article, we will understand what importance freedom of the press lays on the Entertainment law.
‘Freedom of the press’ as a legal statute
Freedom of the press [Article 19.1(a)] has been made a right under the freedom of speech and expression [Article 19(1)] which is one of the freedoms granted by Article 19 i.e. Right to Freedom. Freedom of the press grants the print media certain liberty to publish thoughts and opinions on different matters which are required for public attention and also for the regulation of functioning of a Democracy. The basic motto of this freedom is that when a man cannot convey his opinion and thoughts to some other person then, democracy fails at large. Thus, such freedom is granted to press so that the citizens can get aware of different affairs prevailing in the society. Freedom of press not only affects the citizens but also various industries, one such being the Entertainment industry, as it conveys and portrays everything about such industry to the citizens. Press includes the transmission of information through the means of Newspaper, magazines, journals, reports or any sort of articles. Also, Freedom of the press is governed by the Press Council Act, 1978.
Significance of freedom of the press in entertainment law
Freedom of the press is an important right under the Entertainment law as its basic motto stands on informing and conveying the citizens, and also is required for the regulation of democracy in the country. It plays a significant role as it pictures out the events and occurrences in front of people and leads them to form an opinion which may be crucial in the public interest. Freedom of the press is pertinent for the entertainment law and in what ways it is significant are as follows –
Awareness for the public
As there still stands a large population of the people to whom print media is the last resort to gain information about the society, Print media has been playing a significant role in informing the people of the country about the events and happenings which may be controversial or must be attracted to the public interest. Legal reporters, journalists and writers inform the public about the matters in the society. As there are plenty of people employed under such a profession, the citizens get a varied view of opinion under different matters and let them have a subjective opinion for the same. The press pictures out the events and highlights all the socio-political /legal events and brings out a clear image as the press in a democratic country is respected and has adequate freedom to freely report on various matters.
Secured democracy
The key to a secured and sturdy democracy is when all the citizens of the country are aware of the events and when they raise questions and doubts on various occurrences which may be controversial in nature or have any basic opinion for the same. This can only be possible when the citizens are well-informed, which can be achieved through the media. Freedom of the press has renowned value in society and serves the major criteria of lifting society. When various opinions and views are made on events irrespective of the political background, it shows that democracy has been secured. Well informed citizens uplift democracy.
Crystal clear politics
Print media not only gives a fair picture to the election but also to generalised politics. Press highlights different agendas of the political parties and connotations in different regions. The true sketch of the political leaders and ministers are bought by the media. It also helps the parties to propagate their idea so people may be influenced by it and may become an interested voter. More and more people get influenced through such news and articles and make citizens realise how imperative it is to vote or be interested in political matters of the country.
Knowledge incrementer
Print media negates that, the only possibility to gain knowledge is books and ground-level education. Various posts and articles inform people about various subject matters. People may get interested in a particular field through such posts and articles available through newspapers, magazines, journals or through online modes like social media posts, articles or blogs. More and more people are getting engaged in this kind of education and knowledge. People like reading such informative content which comes up through the print media or the press. As the only opportunity of such print media has not only been restricted to the hard forms like newspapers or magazines, with the advent of the online technology there are more readers of the online mode than the hard form.
Entrancing matters
Another diverse significance of print media is that it not only covers news and politics but also includes all kinds of entertainment-related matters. Usually, people want to get connected with the life of their favourite celebrities or any other event related to them and are quite inquisitive about the Bollywood gospels which can be easily available to the people through the press. Even achievements won by people, schools or any institutions are also mentioned under such media which justly serves its purpose that is binding the audience with the information. You can see various recipes in the newspapers or the internet, there are various life hacks which you can follow. Print media by covering all the subject-matters makes everything to be available at ease, and which is actually accessible to all.
Promotions and advertising
Another very luring feature of print media stands to be promotions and advertising. People nowadays usually advertise everything through posts and social media. Movie-makers promote their movies through newspapers, magazines as well as social media. Writers promote their articles and many other promotions or even interviews are covered under the press. Advertisements for cosmetics, flats on sale, employment posts, marriage announcements, movies and songs, are made through the press. Most of the population of the country is connected from either one mode of the press which makes it feasible for all.
Guide for human rights
Freedom of expression through the press influences human rights to a great extent. If the reporters do not report about the occurrences and events regarding the infringement of certain human rights under political biases then such violation will not be brought to the eyes of people. People will be in the dark without adequate reporting of cases. The press helps such people to convey their stories to others at large. The print media acts as a public informant and brings various issues into light.
Infringement and relief policy
Though the freedom of the press is absolute, whenever any violation to any right of a person has occurred, adequate reliefs are provided with respect to the harm caused to him/her. There are some violations which are made on the part of the press against any person or authority, which are not allowed by the Constitution of our country in any manner.
Defamation
When the press on any platform like Newspaper, magazines, journals, articles or even on social media, publishes something which may be true or not, but can possibly harm the reputation of the mentioned authority or person, the print media can be sued against, for the case of defamation. Defamation is caused when anything controversial or subjectively personal about the person is published and when such published post comes in contact with the third party. The defamed person can file a suit against the press for compensation under the Law of Torts or can also seek relief by filing a charge under Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code, 1872.
Public order
Any article or post on social media or any magazine, or newspaper which results in creating chaos for the public and disrupts the public order or the peace, then such publication shall not be allowed to be presented. Similarly, any post or article also shall not entice any criminal offence to be committed or support any sort of heinous crime, even if it is a formed opinion, it shall not be published. For example- A is a writer who is publishing a post in a newspaper or on the internet on ‘10 ways to commit suicide’, such articles shall not be published or encouraged on any such platforms.
A charge can be filed against such person from Section 292 to 294 under the Indian Penal Code,1872
Freedom of the press and right to privacy in entertainment law
Right to privacy has always been a controversial and debatable topic which has clashed with many opinions. The freedom of the press has an absolute right to publish a strong opinion on any matter, only until when the privacy of the person in controversy is not being violated. When the press posts anything which is personal, anything to which the reputation of the person can be injured, or anything which will dash out the career of the person; all of this will be considered under violation of privacy. Every person has the right to privacy regardless of he/she is a great celebrity, or any business-tycoon or any criminal or even a victim. The views on any controversy will be encouraged until and unless it does not infringe on privacy.
In the cases of sting-operations, though such operations are allowed by the Law enforcement for a particular task like for catching a criminal. Such operations include a camera with them; even if such sting operation holds a great controversial character, anything private captured during such a task shall not in any manner be allowed to get published. According to the Privacy Bill, 2011, if any person, authority or organisation violates or infringes the privacy of any person, such person, authority or organisation, who committed such infringement shall be liable for imprisonment and fine. It was held in the case of Gobind v. State of Madhya Pradesh & Anr. 1975, right of privacy though not a fundamental right, yet has been fully covered under the provisions of Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.
Disadvantages of freedom of the press under the entertainment law
Freedom of the press is an imperative step towards a sturdy democracy which needs to be fully advocated in society. But with growing time, this freedom and advantage has also laid negative impacts on society as well as on the entertainment law.
Political biases
Generally, when the particular print media gets a sufficient amount of audience, then the political parties tend to invest in such companies, in return of a favour from the press to only propagate a good image to the public and do not publish any disregarding content. Through such biases, the press can never be considered as reliable or credible. Such press shows the favoured political party with ‘good’ limelight aim to disregard the opposition.
Exaggeration
Another habitual disadvantage that has occurred many times is ‘exaggeration’. The media and the press tend to create extensive curiosity in the minds of people by exaggerating the incidents. Though it has not created any chaotic situation until now, it may have such an effect in the future. As exaggeration includes some level of overlapping of the stories, making the press lose its credibility in the eyes of the public.
Intrusiveness
As the press and their different companies are keen to get the fresh and controversial amount of information for their public, such companies often cross their boundaries and instead of respecting the privacy of a person, they become so intrusive which results in the violation of the privacy of a person. It may even cause harm to the reputation of that particular person which can result in disruption of harmony between the press and that particular person.
Comparative analysis
We have discussed freedom of the press and its significance in entertainment law from the Indian point of view, now let’s focus on the situation regarding freedom of the press from a global approach.
U.S.A
Freedom of press under the U.S.A also restricts defamation which is similar to the Indian situation. Another striking loophole which is included in their press system is the lack of protection to the whistleblowers and lack of access to the information database. In 2020, the U.S was ranked 45th in the Press Freedom Index, to which India was ranked at 142nd position, which clearly explains that the press is a lot more liberal than our country.
U.K
Freedom of press under the United Kingdom has a long way of free and inquisitive press but unlike India, it does not have any constitutional guarantee for its reporters. Though it has no constitutional guarantee yet, it is still ranked at 35th position under the Press Freedom Index of 2020.
China
Communist Party of China (CPC) has failed to achieve the propaganda of freedom of the press as all the press releases are monitored intensely by the CPC’s and nothing in against of it can be published. The Freedom House ranked China as ‘not free’ in its Annual survey, 2014. According to the Press Freedom Index, 2020, China is ranked at 177th position out 180 countries in total. This shows that it has absolutely no liberty of the press.
Thus, we can see that different countries have different ways of keeping their press free or not. Though India is a democratic country still has a very lower rank in the press freedom index, which needs to essentially fill to make it an absolute democracy.
Case laws
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Labour Liberation Front v. State of Andhra Pradesh, 2004
It was held by the Court in this case, that our country has over-inquisitive media which is the by-product of excessive commercialization and it is overlapping and intruding on the individual’s privacy. The freedom of speech and expression which is a privilege given to journalism is now being misused.
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Justice K.S Puttaswamy v. Union of India, 2017
It was held in this case, that there is a thin line between ‘interest of the public’ and ‘public interest’, and such difference must be well-known to the press. There is no need to make everything truthful to the public; the public has no interest in knowing everything that is true. This was highlighted in this case by Justice Kishan Kaul.
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Romesh Thapar v. State of Madras, 1950
It was laid down in this case, that the individual cannot convey his thoughts or opinion on his own, but a press collectively at large can be a medium to convey information to others through various modes like electronic, print and broadcasts etc.
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Tata Press Limited v. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam, 1995
It was held in this case, that the major source of income of the press is through advertisements and promotions, it was the landmark judgment for incorporating advertising and promoting freedom of speech and expression.
Conclusion
In this article, we got to know about the significance of the ‘freedom of the press’ in entertainment law and we realised that freedom in the press is crucial for entertainment law and for a sturdy democracy. Freedom of the press also results in informing the citizens. But still, our press is also subjected to many disadvantages and infringements to which there are many relief but not effective machinery.
According to my view, the political biases need to immediately stop because it is the major reason for the press to lose its credibility and also the press needs to understand their boundaries and should never jump into private and personal matters which would, in turn, defame the reputation of a person. If we bring changes we might make it up to the top ten of the Press Freedom Index.
References
- https://blog.ipleaders.in/freedom-of-the-press-in-the-indian-constitution-an-overview/#Freedom_to_broadcast
- https://blog.ipleaders.in/freedom-of-press/
- http://www.legalserviceindia.com/articles/fre_pre_v.htm
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