- Saturday, April 20, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA’S Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC) on Thursday (1) asked non-news television channels to show restraint in depicting content pertaining to crimes against women, children and people belonging to the LGBTQ community.
The television watchdog issued a detailed advisory for the portrayal of gender-based violence on programmes and asked the channels to ensure that explicit display of violence against women, minors and LGBTQ people is minimised and convey the message that such violence is not acceptable and must be abjured.
“The BCCC will like to reemphasise that the channels must exercise necessary prudence and caution while scripting, filming and editing such scenes,” the advisory said.
“The council, therefore, advises television channels to exercise self-moderation while framing such plotlines based on social issues engulfing gender-based violence; ensure that their depiction is subtle and nuanced,” it added.
Watchdog asks channels to give disclaimers
The body also said the television channels should also ensure that any portrayal of violence on air is accompanied with an on-screen disclaimer in English, Hindi and other regional languages warning: ‘Gender-based violence is a penal offence. This channel does not support or endorse any form of gender-based violence or abuse of any nature.’
The advisory added: “The BCCC asks for sensitivity while portraying such persons as victims of different forms of violence on television and expects channels to strive to use the impact and reach of television for constructive and reformative purposes.”
The advisory comes two weeks after the central government gave statutory recognition to a self-regulatory complaint-redressal mechanism for television channels.
“Sexual and domestic violence are matters of deep concern for the society and must be addressed with all seriousness,” BCCC chairperson Justice (retd.) Gita Mittal said.
The Union government had notified the Cable Television Networks (Amendment) Rules, 2021, on June 17 which sets up a three-layer statutory mechanism for redressal of complaints related to content aired on TV channels.
The BCCC, which was set up by the Broadcasting Foundation in June 2011, is a self-regulatory body that looks after content-related grievances against more than 300 non-news channels.
