1.5 Regulation of Mass Media (Tort Law, Civil and Criminal

Jurisdiction) The regulation's spectrum — from self to state: Self-regulation: the profession's own ethics codes — the Press Council's Code of Journalistic Conduct (Unit 8.2.2); newsroom standards; the internal correction desk; Co-regulation: the Press Council model — statutory but press-led (Unit 8.2); the world's press- council design; Statutory regulation: licensing (broadcast's entry control), registration (print's lighter touch), certification (film), content rules (decency, elections, advertising); The constitutional ceiling: Article 19 — no prior censorship; no closure, seizure or cancellation of registration except by law; no obstruction of transmission except by law — regulation may never become pre-publication control. The three jurisdictional routes (the syllabus's phrase unpacked): Tort law (civil jurisdiction between private parties): defamation as a civil wrong — the damages suit; privacy invasion; injunctive restraint (the post-publication private-law accountability); Civil jurisdiction: the declaration and compensation actions; the constitutional writ route against state interference (Article 46 + 133 — censorship's challenge, licensing's quash); Criminal jurisdiction: the statutory offences — criminal defamation and the Criminal Code 2074's provisions (Sections 305–308 family: the offence, the compensation order alongside, the three-month limitation, the defences), obscenity, blasphemy, hate speech, contempt of court (Unit 7), disclosure offences (Unit 6) — the state's punishment route, its chilling-effect always weighed (Unit 9's decriminalisation debate). The balance (the exam's framing): a free press needs protection FROM the state (Article 19) and accountability TO the public (the tort/criminal/council routes) — regulation's art is keeping both in proportion. Exam Focus Long questions: (i) Meaning, concept and significance of mass media (the five significance points with the fourth estate); (ii) Development of mass media — the Nepali ladder (Rana → 1951 → Panchayat → 1990 → 2007/2015 → digital); (iii) Regulation of mass media — the spectrum (self → co → statutory → constitutional ceiling) + the tort/ civil/criminal routes. Short questions: the fourth estate; spectrum scarcity's rationale; prior censorship's bar; the types table's statutes. Trick areas: (i) "Regulation" in this unit means the WHOLE accountability map — students who write only about licensing lose the tort/criminal marks; (ii) The constitutional ceiling (Article 19) binds even the statutory regulator — no cancellation of registration except by law; (iii) Print = registration, broadcast = licensing — the distinction is deliberate (scarcity), not historical accident.