‘throwing digital-only publishers under the bus’: new media slams dnpa opting out of digital media rules

On Thursday, union minister Prakash Javadekar met with members of the Digital News Publishers Association to discuss the Centre’s _new digital media rules_. The DNPA, which comprises print

and TV media “with a digital presence”, asked the government to let “treat them differently” from digital-only media houses, _according to a statement_ later issued by the ministry of

information and broadcasting. The DNPA subsequently tweeted that the meeting with Javadekar had been “constructive”. The DNPA representatives at the meeting were from _India Today_, _Dainik

Bhaskar_, _Hindustan Times_, _Indian Express_, the _Times of India_, _ABP_, _Eenadu_, _Dainik Jagran_ and _Lokmat. _Out of the nine, seven represent newspapers. The other two are news

channels. Digital-only platforms were not invited. This is important, especially when read with the fact that digital platforms have _described the rules_ as “going against the fundamental

principle of news”. The media houses at Thursday’s meeting represented their own interests, not the interests of digital portals. Significantly, Digipub, a consortium of 11 digital portals,

had asked the government to consult with stakeholders but received no response. The _Wire_’s founding trust and the _News Minute_’s Dhanya Rajendran even _petitioned the high court_,

pointing out that the rules “are creating a whole mechanism for government intrusion”. _So did ___Live Law__, which said the rules will make it impossible for small outlets to function.

Unsurprisingly, journalists and editors with digital outlets slammed the DNPA’s demand to be excluded from the rules, stating that “traditional media” had thrown digital outlets under the

bus.