Question : REGULATORY ACT FOR ELECTRONIC MEDIA

(a) the number of newspapers, magazines, FM Radio Stations and electronic media channels so far registered in the country along with readership and viewership, media-wise;

(b) whether the Government has conducted any review/monitoring of the functioning of the media;

(c) if so, the details of such monitoring/review conducted during each of the last three years and the current year, media-wise;

(d) the number of newspapers and electronic media channels de-registered during the said period and the reasons therefor, media-wise;

(e) whether the Government has received suggestions from the Press Council of India and other stakeholders to formulate a code of conduct for the print and the electronic media; and

(f) if so, the details thereof and the action taken thereon so far?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF INFORMATION & BROADCASTING (COL RAJYAVARDHAN RATHORE (Retd.))

(a) A total number of 99,660 publications, having different periodicities were registered with the Office of Registrar of Newspapers for India till 31.3.2014. Out of these, 19,755 publications, having different periodicities, filed annual statements claiming a circulation of 45,05,86,212 copies per publishing day.

At present, 243 private FM Radio Stations are functioning in the country under the Policy on expansion of FM Radio Broadcasting services through private agencies.

As regards Private Satellite TV Channels, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has given permission to 821 Channels under the Policy Guidelines of Uplinking/Downlinking of Television Channels, in India, in 2011.

However, the TV viewership data of Private TV Channels and listenership data of FM Radio Stations are not maintained in this Ministry.

(b) and (c) Press Council of India has last year reviewed the state of the Press for the year 2008-12. The detailed information are available in the following link:

Presscouncil.nic.in/WriteReadData/Pdf/ReviewofthePressinIndia.pdf.

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has not conducted any review/monitoring of the functioning of the electronic media.

(d) During the last three years and the current year, the number of publications de- registered are as under:

 Year	No. of Publications	de-registered 2011-12	13 2012-13	24 2013-14	49 2014-15	20 (upto 30.11.2014)