Strong Debate in Senate over Media Certification Act Begins

The creation of a regulatory body to review media outlets and assess their impartiality and reliability has sparked intense debate on the Senate floor.

When Fishergate, the newly elected Chair of the Senate introduced the first bill, he may not have been expecting the intense debate that quickly arose. Specifically between Marvinville, Fishergate, and Aexodian.

Marvinville made his case saying, "I disagree with this bill. I don't think that it should be up to a committee within the government to tell people what is trustworthy for them. The citizens can figure that out themselves. We must keep Media outlets independent from the government and make sure that there is absolutely no involvement from forces like a committee to regulate the media. I will plan to vote against this bill."

This perspective furthers the argument that the biggest problem with this bill is that it is a bill and not a nongovernmental proposal. Opponents have made the case that if a media certification organization is to be set up, it should be independent from the government. If passed, this bill would become a law and the News Outlet Regulatory Body (NORB) would be tied to the government by the definition of a law.

In reply, Fishergate said, "The NORB will not be a "committee within the government". It will be completely independent from the government, is designed to be as apolitical as possible, and can be suspended by the Senate at any point. Furthermore, it will hold no power of jurisdiction. It will simply be a public service provider, offering expert guidance on media trustworthiness.

While citizens often can spot unreliable news stories, that is not to say they can't be misled. NORB will help them. Whether or not citizens choose to heed the NORB's ratings is completely up to them because, as the bill clearly states, the NORB has no power to suppress or censor media outlets.

In reality, most citizens don't have the time or effort to scrutinise and fact-check everything they read in the news. The NORB will just serve to point out unreliable or misleading statements, which citizens can then go away and check up on for themselves. There is nothing malicious about the body, it is something that will improve the quality of Thaecian democracy, it will not lead to state interference in the media or censorship, so we should all be supporting it."

While this statement starts out with a false claim, it goes on to make a strong case for the NORB, which many of the proponents would surely approve of.

As debate continues, it will be interesting to see where it goes. The bill is almost certain to pass as several other Senators have voiced support for the bill, including Snowflame, ASEAN Nations, Aexodian, and now Brototh. If it does pass, the implementation of the law and it's impacts on news outlets will be fascinating to follow, and The Theacian Journal will be following closely indeed.