MxMIndia

Tag: BCCC

  • BCCC members and representatives of the channels discussed women-related thematic issues that ranged from sex, nudity, obscenity, stereotyping and violence

    BCCC conducts session on Portrayal of Women on TV

     

    By A Correspondent

     

    Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC), the independent self-regulatory body for non-news general entertainment channels set up by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF), conducted an interactive session with the S&P/Creative/Programming teams of its member Channels to sensitise them about the ‘Portrayal of Women in Television Programmes’ recently in Mumbai.

     

    A.P. Shah

    BCCC members and representatives of the channels discussed women-related thematic issues that ranged from sex, nudity, obscenity, stereotyping and violence.

     

    BCCC Chairman Justice (Retd.) A.P. Shah said, “Scenes of violence against women can have a damaging impact on all sections, especially children. For instance, such violent depiction can put a vulnerable section like women domestic help at high risk. Such scenes should be done in a subtle manner.”

     

    Shabana Azmi

    BCCC Member Shabana Azmi said, “The business of camera is the business of images. If fragmented images of a woman’s body are shown, it is actually robbing the women of all autonomy and subjecting her to male gaze. If we objectify women, there will be a little chance that society will have great respect for them.”

     

    Talking about violence, Ms. Azmi said, “Violence may be necessary for the story. But mistreatment should not be glorified. It can be suggestive and creatively done. It can be done in a way that doesn’t reinforce violence against women. It is time to introspect how we can contribute to minimise violence against women.”

     

    Vir Sanghvi

    BCCC Member Vir Sanghvi said, “Our concern is with entertainment that promotes stereotyping of women in a situation where they are portrayed in a negative fashion and where they are consistently portrayed as victims who are to be enjoyed or to be mistreated. If mass media promotes that image, it will have horrific consequences.” Mr. Sanghvi said if content auditors look into the content as dispassionate viewers themselves, the chance of objectionable content being aired gets minimal.

     

     

    Sudhir Mishra

    The Council also invited filmmaker Sudhir Mishra to interact with the Channel representatives on stereotyping of women. Mr Mishra said, “Stereotyping leads to tragic ends. If we are corroborating the stereotypes, then we are corroborating the idea of women needing protection and, in turn, corroborating awful things.”

     

    “If you project yourselves on screen the way you are, there will be no stereotyping,” Mr Mishra said.

     

    The BCCC members reiterated their intention of not curtailing artistic freedom of the content creators but only to sensitise them.

     

    Issues like portrayal of Children and stereotyping of Minorities in television programmes were also discussed at the interaction which was well attended by all general entertainment channels.

     

    Wajahat Habibullah, Chairman of National Commission for Minorities, and also a member of BCCC said, “Targeting a particular community can cause lot of damage to the psyche of that community. We need to develop practices that are constructive and are not curtailing creativity.”

     

    The session turned out to be a fruitful one for the broadcasters as they also got an opportunity to share their sensitivities and structural limitations regarding content that goes on air.

     

    In view of the increasing number of complaints pertaining to southern Channels, BCCC will conduct a similar session in Chennai/Hyderabad in the coming months.

     

  • BCCC Chairperson Justice (Retd) AP Shah tells MxMIndia about the complaints that the broadcast authority receives, and what is being done about them

    Jaldi 5 with BCCC chief AP Shah: Unedited foreign programmes lead to more complaints

    By Ananya Saha

     

    The Broadcasting Content Complaints Council received 8,628 complaints and suggestions as of November 30, 2012. Should it be a cause for concern? Should the industry focus more on self-regulation? MxM India spoke to BCCC Chairperson Justice (Retd) AP Shah about the issue.

     

    1. What kind of role does BCCC play in the regulation of the broadcast medium?

    We have to strike a balance between preserving free speech and expression on the one hand, and on the other see that the guidelines and advisories are followed.

     

    2. What are the major complaints or suggestions that BCCC gets?

    Broadly 47 percent of complaints are on sex, vulgarity and nudity. Some 30-40 percent pertain to harm and violence. Others are related to religion or are general complaints. I think the complaints have increased due to increase in import of foreign programmes, which are telecast unedited.

     

    3. What is the advisory you issue on ‘unedited’ programmes?

    Some are asked to go off-air, or some episode is asked to be pulled. Or be put in night slot, which is the restricted slot of 11 pm to 5 am. Or we ask them to modify the content. The good thing is that when it comes to self-regulation, we have had 100 percent compliance from the channels.

     

    4. What about content on regional entertainment channels?

    Yes, there are concerns in regards to regional channels. We receive a large number of complaints from South but since we do not know the language it becomes a problem. We get complaints in language programmes such as Kannada, Telugu, Tamil; not so much in Malayalam though. We need to have a BCCC person in South India who understands the languages.

     

    5. Does MIB interfere with BCCC’s advisories?

    No. There are times when the ministry refers a complaint to us. But the ministry has not interfered with our work. We have fairly succeeded in implementing the guidelines.

     

  • The Broadcasting Content Complaints Council is the independent self-regulatory body for non-news general entertainment channels

    BCCC received 8,628 complaints as of Nov ’12

    By A Correspondent

     

    There has been a rapid increase in the number of complaints being handled by the Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC), following the various measures implemented by the IBF’s member channels and increased awareness among the Indian television audience.

     

    The BCCC is the independent self-regulatory body for non-news general entertainment channels, set up by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) in June 2011. The council came into being after consultations between the IBF and the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting to implement ‘Self-Regulatory Guidelines and Complaints Redressal Mechanism’ for all non-news channels, including general entertainment, children and special interest channels.

     

    The council held a conference in New Delhi recently, which was addressed by BCCC Chairperson Justice (Retd) AP Shah, IBF President Man Jit Singh, BCCC Members Shabana Azmi and Bhaskar Ghose, and IBF Vice President Rajat Sharma. Also present were BCCC Broadcast Members Ashok Nambissan (MSM Media Pvt. Ltd.) and Sujit Jain (Viacom 18).

     

    BCCC Chairman Justice Shah said, “The BCCC has taken a serious note of complaints relating to women and children and issued advisories in this regard. Broadcasters should strictly avoid showing children below the age of 12 dancing to item numbers. The treatment of children during the course of the programme is also important. Stereotyping of women should be discouraged in TV programmes.”

     

    “We have made certain suggestions and recommendations to the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting with regard to Clause 10.2 of the Uplinking Guidelines. We feel a provision for graded financial penalty can be introduced in for serious violations by channels,” Justice Shah added. The BCCC submitted a report to the MI&B in this respect on January 22, 2013.

     

    IBF President Man Jit Singh said, “Self-regulation is the most appropriate way to handle content on television. The BCCC is a truly independent council that looks into complaints from all over the country. The broadcasters take all recommendations, directions and advisories of the BCCC very seriously and will continue to support the council’s efforts.”

     

    BCCC Member Shabana Azmi said, “Freedom of speech and expression, especially artistic freedom, is very important and a democratic right. This freedom, however, comes with responsibility, and this is where BCCC plays an important role. At BCCC, we hear the channels when serious complaints come before us. We are happy to say that there has been full compliance of the BCCC’s directives by the member channels.”

     

    IBF Vice President Mr Sharma said, “The BCCC is a credible and successful system of self-regulation that has been functioning for 21 months now. It has done good work and we are sure it will continue to do so.”

     

    BCCC Member Bhaskar Ghose said: “At present, debates relating to content and similar issues cater only to a defined audience. We feel its scope needs to be expanded with fruitful participation of a much wider audience in society.”

     

    Till November 30, 2012, BCCC has received 8,628 complaints and suggestions, including 1,072 specific complaints. So far, BCCC has issued seven advisories to the member channels on different topics of concern. During the personal hearings, the BCCC gives an opportunity to the concerned channel’s Standard & Practices heads/Content heads to place their point of view and arrive at appropriate action as per the established norms of self-regulation.

     

    The BCCC has also held two interactive sessions with Channel heads/ S&P heads/ Content heads to develop a better understanding about the IBF’s Self-Regulatory Guidelines and to make television content suitable for unrestricted viewing.

     

    The BCCC has decided to hold similar sensitization sessions with S&P heads of channels in other parts of the country.