In what would come as a relief for several publishers and promoters of newspapers, magazines and other publications, the government has quietly dropped an important provision in the amended Press and Registration of Books and Publications (PRBP) Bill, 2010, which mandated all publishers to furnish the break-up of their sources of revenue and advertising income.
A provision to this effect in Section 30(1)(a) of the PRBP Act, 2010 (formerly known as PRB Act, 1867) has now been deleted at the instance of various newspapers and publishers? bodies. In February, the Cabinet had cleared the PRBP Bill, 2010. This means there won’t be a statutory requirement for newspaper firms to separately disclose revenues from non-conventional sources like private treaties and ?other forms of paid news?.
A proposal to this effect received Cabinet approval earlier this month without the government issuing any official statement. The amended PRBP Bill, 2010, will now be tabled in the Parliament in the upcoming Winter session to replace the PRB Act, 1867.
If unchanged, the PRBP Bill, 2010, in its earlier avatar would have strengthened the office of the Registrar of Newspapers for India, popularly known as RNI, to study the break-up of source of revenue of any publisher which may include income generated from any source other than advertising revenue.
This provision was added by the government last year when it amended the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867, a law brought in by the British government at that time for the regulation of printing presses and newspapers printed in the whole of India and for the registration of such books and periodicals containing news.
The government had earlier clubbed the disclosure of advertising revenue and its break-up to RNI as part of the annual statement disclosure which includes the name, place and address of the publication as well as the publishers along with circulation figures. Non-disclosure of advertising revenue figures with RNI could attract cancellation of the publishers’ registration.
According to official sources, several publishers’ bodies pointed out that no such clause was present in the earlier PRB Act, 1867 or in its various amendments after Independence. Also, all publications registered as companies under the Companies Act do share their balance sheet with the registrar of companies in their region; hence, this provision should be dropped.
In February, the Cabinet had cleared a proposal for the amendment of Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867 to streamline the age-old processes and to address issues governed by the Print Media Policy. It was also decided to change the name of PRB Act to the Press and Registration of Books and Publications or PRBP. The main feature of the proposed PRBP Bill, 2010 covers the Internet editions of newspapers apart from detailed provisions for verification of a title; provisions to prevent blocking of titles to discourage non-serious publishers; making statutory provision for circulation verification; provisions with respect to limits on foreign news content (syndication) and foreign investments; and compulsory filing of annual statements by publishers among others.