Prof. Price noted that in the U.S. and throughout the world, there is frequently informal dialogue between the media and the government on broadcast standards. But the U.S. has no laws like the Official Secrets Act or restrictions on writing about scandals involving public officials. While a private person can sue the media for defamation, we want the hurdle to be very high for suits by public officials, he emphasized. He also said that the Indian vernacular press was increasingly forceful. And, with the advent of international voices like the BBC and Star, Indian television and newspapers have been forced to change and become more competitive.
Regulation is a graveyard of unintended consequences.
On matters such as violence on television screens, there's been pressure by the U.S. government on industry for over two decades, the New York Professor observed. Prof. Price is the co-author with Stefaan G. Verhulst of a book on the Indian broadcasting bill. He is also the founder and co- director of the Oxford Program in Comparative Media Law and Policy, Wolfson College, Oxford University. He developed and is co-chair of the Board of Moscow Center for Media Law and Policy Studies.