PremiumNEW DELHI: The News Broadcasters Association (NBA), a private association of different current affairs and news television broadcasters in India, has decided to change its name to News Broadcasters & Digital Association (NBDA), it said in a statement on Friday.
With the media landscape having changed drastically due to technology, many choices have now become available to viewers to access content on various mediums and digital seems to be the future. The NBA Board has decided to change the name of the body to NBDA in order to reflect the addition of digital media news broadcasters as its members, it said.
"NBA has decided to bring within its purview digital media news broadcasters. In its new phase, with the inclusion of digital media news broadcasters, the NBA Board has decided to change the name of the body from NBA to NBDA," NBA president Rajat Sharma said in a statement. “I firmly believe that the NBDA will become a strong collective voice for both broadcast and digital media. Along with commercial and regulatory issues, it will also enable the association to defend the fundamental right of free speech and expression guaranteed to the media in the Constitution of India in a better manner," he added.
This May, NBA had written to the ministry of information and broadcasting, asking for exemption from the new Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, for television news media and its extended presence on digital news platforms as they are already governed by other laws. MIB had rejected the request, still asking them to furnish details about their organizations and appoint self-regulatory bodies.
To be sure, NBA had set up an independent self-regulatory body News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) 14 years ago, which has had a complaint redressal system and process, headed by judges of the Supreme Court of India and other experts who have tried to improve broadcasting standards. The NBDA Board has decided that with the inclusion of digital media news broadcasters, the name of the self-regulatory body be changed to News Broadcasting & Digital Standards Authority.
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