This question was answered in para 78 thus:
“There
is
no
doubt
that
since
the
airwaves/frequencies are a public property and are
also limited, they have to be used in the best
interest of the society and this can be done either by
a central authority by establishing its own
broadcasting network or regulating the grant of
licences to other agencies, including the private
agencies. What is further, the electronic media is
the most powerful media both because of its
audio-visual impact and its widest reach covering
the section of the society where the print media
does not reach. The right to use the airwaves and
the content of the programmes, therefore, needs
regulation for balancing it and as well as to prevent
monopoly of information and views relayed, which is
a potential danger flowing from the concentration of
the right to broadcast/telecast in the hands either of
a central agency or of few private affluent
broadcasters. That is why the need to have a
central agency representative of all sections of the
society free from control both of the Government
and the dominant influential sections of the society.
This is not disputed. But to contend that on that
account the restrictions to be imposed on the right
under Article 19(1)(a) should be in addition to those
permissible under Article 19(2) and dictated by the
use of public resources in the best interests of the
society at large, is to misconceive both the content
of the freedom of speech and expression and the
problems posed by the element of public property
in, and the alleged scarcity of, the frequencies as
well as by the wider reach of the media. If the right
to freedom of speech and expression includes the
right to disseminate information to as wide a section
of the population as is possible, the access which
enables the right to be so exercised is also an
integral part of the said right. The wider range of
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