Govt. forms committee to regulate news portals

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has instituted a committee to regulate online portals, including news websites, entertainment sites and media aggregators. The 10-member committee, formed on Wednesday, will include secretaries of the departments of Home, Legal Affairs, Electronics and Information and Technology, and Industrial Policy and Promotion. In its order, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting noted that both print and electronic media are regulated but online media does not come under the ambit of regulatory mechanism. Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani had announced on Twitter that her ministry was working on bringing online news too under regulation mechanism.