The Council in consultation stated that the BCCC calls for sensitivity when portraying such individuals as victims of various forms of violence on television.
The Broadcast Content Complaints Council (BCCC) on Thursday asked non-news TV channels to exercise restraint in their portrayal of content related to crimes against women, children and members of the LGBTQ community . Issuing a detailed advisory on the depiction of gender-based violence in TV programmes, the council asked channels to ensure that fictionalized scenes of violence against women, children and people belonging to the LGBTQ community are minimized, but the message is clear. That this type of violence is unacceptable and must be stopped. “BCCC would like to re-emphasize that the channels should exercise due caution and precaution while writing scripts, during filming and during editing,” the advisory said. . ‘
It said that TV channels should also ensure that any such depiction of violence on television should be accompanied by a message on screen in English, Hindi and other regional languages that ‘gender based violence is a punishable offence. This channel neither endorses nor advocates any form of gender based violence and harassment of any kind.
Demand to show sensitivity before showing violence
“The BCCC calls for sensitivity when portraying such persons as victims of various forms of violence on television and expects the influence and reach of channel television to be used for constructive and remedial purposes,” the council said in the advisory. do.’ The BCCC’s advisory comes at a time when the central government, two weeks ago, amended the cable television network rules with an aim to provide a statutory mechanism for redressal of complaints received regarding content to be aired on television channels.
BCCC Chairperson Justice (Retd) Gita Mittal said, “It is an advisory for broadcasters to exercise restraint in portraying content related to crimes against women, children and persons from the LGBTQ community.” Sexual and domestic violence is a matter of deep concern to the society and should be dealt with with utmost seriousness.
Amendment in television network rules
Significantly, the Center had on June 17 amended the cable television network rules to provide for a three-tier statutory mechanism for redressal of complaints received regarding content to be broadcast by television channels. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting notified the Cable Television Networks (Amendment) Rules, 2021 by publishing it in an official gazette (circular) on June 17.
The amended rules create a three-tier mechanism for redressal of grievances, self-regulation by broadcasters, self-regulation by self-regulating bodies of broadcasters and monitoring through the mechanism of the Central Government. In case of trouble with any program broadcast on the channels, the viewer can make a written complaint to the broadcaster regarding that.
