no law shall make any provision that derogates from freedom of the press”. This, however, does not define the press (and journalists), the privileges and protection they enjoy as well as their corresponding responsibilities, thereby leaving them at the mercy of the many derogations promulgated by the same Article and made more explicit by various provisions in subsidiary laws such as the Penal Code, among others. It is also worth noting that the proposed “statutory self-regulation of the media” is a misnomer. This is because there exist three broad categories of regulation i.e. Self-regulation, statutory regulation and co-regulation. Self-regulation, by its very nomenclature, is a voluntary process without any coercion or involvement of statutory authorities. Media houses voluntarily come together to agree on standards as well as corrective action to be taken when such standards are breached by those who choose to ascribe. Statutory regulation on the other hand, is mandatory regulation which is passed by a government and is enforceable by law. It is coercive, includes licensing and may carry punitive sanctions, including imprisonment. Co-regulation on the other hand is a hybrid of the two preceding forms of media regulation. In co-regulation, media practitioners and stakeholders come together to agree on standards as well as other industry benchmarks. They determine the content of the regulatory instrument to be used and government only comes in to facilitate the enactment of the Bill without altering the contents of the Bill promulgated by the media practitioners. The process is also couched in a strongly protected framework which safeguards the process. While these are broad models, minor variations do exist; it is, therefore, important for the Technical Working Group to ensure the process is in line with generally accepted standards to avoid instituting Statutory Regulation couched under a misnomer “statutory-self regulation”, as noted by some interview participants. Notable in the quarter, also, was the Independent Broadcasting Authority’s decision to grant Prime Television a broadcasting license following an 19