Home Ministry: Not going to merge 2 media regulatory bodies

Minister of Home Affairs, Azleen Ahmed has said the government was no longer considering having only one independent media regulatory body.

This comes after former Minister of Home Affairs, Umar Naseer announced that the government wished to merge the two independent media regulatory bodies – Maldives Broadcasting Commission and Maldives Media Council – and form one media regulatory body.

Minister Azleen spoke to “Sun” and said that the government was no longer considering that option, and that it wanted to carry on as it was at the present.

MVR 13 million goes into funding for media regulation by the two independent bodies – an expense which is considered a waste by many in the media industry.

Editor of Haveeru (now discontinued), Moosa Latheef said that the country needed only one media regulatory body.

“Having two commissions is not important. Maldives is a small place. There are few medias. One commission can do both the work,” said Moosa.

State is spending MVR 4,607,328 for Media Council and MVR 9,074,089 for Broadcasting Commission from its budget this year.