The Secretary, Ministry Of ... vs Cricket Association Of Bengal & ... on 9 February, 1995
new means of mass communication, it is understandable that society has wanted to regulate it just
as it has treated the cinema with more caution than it has the theater. This argument of Bollinger is
based on the history of the two media. Bollinger's second argument is that society is entitled to
remedy the deficiencies of an unregulated press with a regulated broadcasting system which may be
preferable to attempting to regulate both sectors... According to Bollinger, regulation poses the
danger of Government con- trol, a risk which is reduced if one branch of the media is left free. The
author attacks this reason given by Bollinger and states that it is an unsatisfactory compro- mise. If
the regulation of the press is always wrong and perhaps unconstitutional and if there is no significant difference between the two
media, it follows that the latter should also be wholly unregulated. The author also points out that
Bollinger's argument attempts to justify the unequal treatment of the liberties of the broadcasters
and newspaper proprietors and editors when in all material respects, their position is identical.
40. The author then refers to the rights of viewers and listeners which is referred to in Red Lion
Broadcasting case [supra] by White, J. of the US Supreme Court in the following words:
"But the people as a whole retain their interest in free speech by radio and their
collective right to have the medium function consistently with the ends and purposes
of the First Amendment. It is the right of viewers and listeners, not the right of the
broadcasters, which is paramount".
41.The author concludes by pointing out that the cases from a variety of jurisdictions show that the
broadcasters programme freedom when exercised within the constraints imposed by the regulatory
authority, has priority over the rights claimed by viewers to see a particular programme or to retain
a particular series in the schedule. On the other hand, the interests of viewers and listeners justify
the imposition of programme standards which would not be countenanced for the press or
publishing. It is recognised by the constitutional courts of European countries that viewers and
listeners have interests, and they should be taken into account in the interpretation' of broadcasting
freedom. But the balancing of the rights of the broadcasters and viewers is done by regulatory
authority. Courts are understandably reluctant to contemplate the interference with administrative
discretion which would result from their recognition of individual rights.
42.Dealing with the right to access to broadcasting, the author points out that the theoretical
argument in this connection is that freedom of speech means freedom to communicate effectively to
a mass audience and nowadays that entails access to the mass media. The rights to access provide
some compensation for the expropriation by the public monopoly of the freedom to broadcast. In
the absence of a justification for that monopoly, there would be a right to broadcast in the same way
that everyone has a right to say or write what he likes in his own home. This would justify the
recognition of access to both public and private channels. The -author states that these arguments
are unacceptable. Freedom of speech does not entail any right to communicate effectively in the
sense that a citizen can call upon the State to provide him with the most effective means for the
purpose. He points out that no legal system provides its citizens with the means and opportunities
to address the Public in the way each considers most ap- propriate. Moreover, to grant everyone a
Indian Kanoon - http://indiankanoon.org/doc/539407/
25