“Newspaper owners should not be allowed to start TV channels and vice versa,” party General Secretary Prakash Karat said.

The draft political resolution, which was released by Karat and his colleague Sitaram Yechury, identified rapid corporatisation of media as a threat and said the party should campaign to reverse the entry of FDI in print media. “The entry of FDI into the media, where 26 per cent foreign capital is allowed, has made a section of the media more pro-western, anti-political and anti-communist,” the resolution said.

“The purveying of mindless violence, sex and obscurantism has grown exponentially with the proliferation of the electronic media,” it said, adding that in the name of freedom of media, “naked commercialisation” had become rampant and “unethical practices” overlooked.

Thus there should be a code of conduct put in place for the print and electronic media which should be formulated in consultation with the professional media organisations.  The party also suggested that the Prasar Bharati should be developed as a public broadcasting service both for television and radio. The resolution also mentioned that CPM should support all efforts for the development of a culture based on progressive and democratic values.
Maintaining that the glorification of violence and sex and promotion of rampant individualism through the mass media continues to have a harmful impact on society, particularly the youth, the resolution said diverse forms of cultural expression were being marginalised and co-opted within the fold of market-driven culture.