Vibodh Parthasarathi on the Regulatory History of Press Ownership in India

Our Fellow Vibodh Parthasarathi examines the regulatory history of press ownership in India in a new article for the Journal of Digital Media & Policy.

The article looks at “the life of the Ownership Bill between 1971 and 1974 as a particular confluence of policy and politics,” analyzing its context and the causes for its ultimate withdrawal, despite wide-ranging support for the cause. It argues that “a consensus does not imply the absence of wrangles between actors but a relationship between contending actors that is in some way ordered.”

The article covers risks to the press form different interests, ownership anxieties before the bill was presented and “the institutional architecture” the bill confronted.