The document summarizes key aspects of laws related to mass communication in India, including the Indian Telegraph Act (1885), Indian Post Office Act (1898), Newspaper Price and Page Act (1956), and Newspaper Price Control Act (1972). The acts establish the government's authority over telegraphs, postal services, and regulation of newspaper prices and pages to prevent unfair competition. The acts define offenses and penalties related to misuse or improper handling of telegraphs, postal articles, and newspaper reporting/pricing requirements.

1. Laws and Ethics in Mass
Communication
Indian Telegraph Act

2. Indian Telegraph Act, 1885
• The main object of the Telegraph Act was to give power to the
Government to install telegraph lines on private as well as
public property.
• Telegraph is defined as any appliance, instrument, material or
apparatus used or capable of being used for transmission or
reception of signs, signals, writing, images and sounds or
intelligence of any nature by wire, or by Radio waves.

3. Indian Telegraph Act, 1885
• Privilege of the Government with respect to Telegraph:
Section 4 of the Act deals with exclusive privilege of the government to
establish, maintain and use telegraphs. It also provides for the
government to grant license to establish, maintain or work a telegraph.
The government may grant such license on certain conditions and for a
license fee.
Section 5 of the Telegraph Act is commonly known as the wire-tapping clause.
It gives power to the government to take possession of any licensed
telegraphs in case of a public emergency or in the interest of public safety.
It also orders interception of communication in the interests of the
sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the state, friendly
relation with foreign states or public order or for preventing incitement to
the commission of an offence. However, the government has to follow the
procedure established by law for issuing such order.

4. Indian Telegraph Act, 1885
• Section 7: The government has the power to make rule with regard to
following issues:
a)Rates and other conditions and restrictions subject to which messages will
be transmitted within India
b) Precautions to be taken to prevent improper interception or disclosure of
message
Section 10:The telegraph authority has the power to place, maintain
telegraph line. The telegraph authority can only take possession of land for
the purpose of installing and maintaining telegraph lines and posts. It will
be liable to pay adequate compensation to all the persons who have a
stake in such property. The Telegraph Act also gives power to the
telegraph authority to enter on property for the purpose of repairing or
removing telegraph lines or posts.

5. Indian Telegraph Act, 1885
• Sections 12-15 are the procedure applicable to take
possession of property. The telegraph authority has to take
permission and pay any expenses for setting up
communication equipment on property under the control of a
local authority. The local authority may also ask the telegraph
authority to remove any telegraph lines or post if it finds it
necessary to do so. Any dispute between telegraph authority
and local authority will be decided by an officer appointed by
the Central Government.

6. Indian Telegraph Act, 1885
• Section 20-32 (Penalties)
• Sec 20: Whosoever establishes, maintains or works a within
India a telegraph without proper license or authorization from
the government shall be punished with imprisonment which
may extend to 3 years, or with fine, or with both.
Sec 22: If a Railway Company, or an officer of a Railway
Company, neglects or refuses to comply with the provision
which gives power to the Central Government to establish
telegraph on land of Railway Company shall be punished with
a fine which may extend to Rs. 1000 for every day during
which the neglect or refusal continues.

7. Indian Telegraph Act, 1885
• Sec23: If any person without permission of -competent authority, enters
the signal-room of a telegraph office of the government, or enters a
fenced enclosure in contravention of any rule or notice not to do so, or
refuses to quit such room or enclosure on being requested to do so by any
officer or servant employed therein, shall be fined.
• Sec 24: If any person does any of the acts mentioned in Section 23 with
the intention of unlawfully learning the contents of any message, or
of committing any offence punishable under this Act shall be imprisoned
for a term which may extend to 1 year in addition to the fine with which
he is punishable under Section 23

8. Indian Telegraph Act, 1885
• Sec 25: If any person intending to prevent or obstruct the transmission or
delivery of any message, or to intercept or to acquaint himself with the
contents of any message, or to commit mischief, damages, removes,
tampers with or touches any battery, machinery, telegraph line, post or
other thing whatever, being part of or used in or about any telegraph or in
the working thereof, shall be imprisoned for a term which may extend to 3
years, or with fine or with both.
• Sec 30 : If any person fraudulently retains, or conceals removes holds
without any reason any message which ought to have been delivered to
some other person, or, being required by a telegraph officer to deliver up
any such message, neglects of refuses to do so shall be imprisoned for a
term which may extend to 2 years, or with fine, or with both.

9. Indian Post Office Act

10. Indian Post Office Act, 1898
Wherever within India posts or postal communications are
established by the Central Government, the Central
Government shall have the exclusive privilege of conveying by
post, from one place to another.
The [Government] shall not incur any liability by reason of loss,
misdelivery or delay of, or damage to, any postal article in
course of transmission by post; and no officer of the Post
Office shall incur any liability by reason of any such loss,
misdelivery, delay or damage, unless he has caused the same
fraudulently or by his willful act.

11. Indian Post Office Act, 1898
The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, fix
the rates of postage and other sums to be charged in respect of
postal articles sent by the inland post under this Act. The Govt will
make rules to scale the weights, terms and conditions subject to
which the rates shall be fixed.
The Central Government may make rules as to the supply, sale and use
of postage stamps.
The Central Government will fix the price at which postage stamps
shall be sold. The Government will also declare the classes of
postal articles in respect of which postage stamps, shall be used for
the payment of postage or other sums chargeable under this Act.

12. Indian Post Office Act, 1898
Transmission by post of anything injurious prohibited: No person shall send
by post any explosive, dangerous, filthy, noxious or deleterious substance;
any sharp instrument not properly protected, or any living creature which
is either noxious or likely to injure postal articles in course of transmission
by post or any officer of the Post Office.
No person shall send by post, --
a) any ticket, proposal or advertisement relating to a lottery; or
b) any other matter descriptive of, or otherwise relating to, a lottery, which
is calculated to act as an inducement to persons to participate in that
lottery.
In this section “lottery” does not include a lottery organized or authorised by
the Government.

13. Indian Post Office Act, 1898
Transmission by post of anything indecent, etc.,prohibited.—
No person shall send by post-
a) any indecent or obscene printing, painting, photograph,
lithograph, engraving, book or card, or any other indecent or
obscene article, or
b) any postal article having thereon, or on the cover thereof,
any words, marks or designs of an indecent, obscene,
seditious, scurrilous, threatening or grossly offensive
character.

14. Indian Post Office Act, 1898
Power to intercept postal articles for public good.-
O n the occurrence of any public emergency, or in the interest of the public
safety, the Government [Central or State], or any officer specially
authorised in this behalf the Govt may, by order in writing, direct that any
postal article shall be intercepted or detained.
No newspaper printed and published in [India] without conforming to the
rules laid down in the Press and Registration of Books Act, shall be
transmitted by post.
Transmission by post of value-payable postal articles.- The [Central
Government] may, by notification in the [officialGazette], direct that, a
specified sum of money may be recovered on the delivery from the
addressee. The sum, so recovered, shall be paid to the sender.

15. Indian Post Office Act, 1898
Power to maintain money order system and to make rules as to remittances
thereby: The Central Government may provide for the remitting of small
sums of money through the Post Office by means of money orders. The
government will decide
(a) the limit of amount for which money orders may be issued;
(b) the rates of commission or the fees to be charged on money orders
Power to provide for the issue of postal orders.- The Central Government
may authorise the issue of money orders to be called postal orders, for
certain fixed amounts. It can also make rules as to the rates of commission
to be charged and conditions subject to which, they may be issued, paid
and cancelled.

16. Indian Post Office Act, 1898
Penalty for opening, detaining or delaying postal articles: Whoever being an
officer of the Post Office, contrary to this duty, opens any postal article in
course of transmission by post, or willfully detains or delays, any such postal
article, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to
two years, or with fine or both.
Whoever, being appointed to sell postage stamps, takes from any purchaser for
any postage stamp a price higher than that fixed by any rule shall be
punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or
with fine or with both.
Whoever places in or against any letter box provided by the post office any thing
likely to injure any such letter box or contents, shall be punishable with
imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine or with
both.

17. Newspaper Price and Page Act, 1956
Salient Features of the Act

18. NewspaperPrice and Page Act, 1956
• This is an Act to provide for the regulation of the prices charged for
newspapers in relation to their pages. The purpose of this act is to prevent
unfair competition among newspapers so that newspapers may have fuller
opportunities of freedom of expression.
• This Act defines "daily newspaper“ as a newspaper which is published
not less than six days in a week, and includes any supplement or special
edition of such newspaper;
• This Act defines “newspaper“ as any printed periodical work containing
public news or comments on public news appearing at intervals of not
more than a week.

19. Newspaper Price and Page Act, 1956
The Central Government has the power to regulate prices and pages of
newspapers, etc. The Central Government for the purpose of preventing
unfair competition among newspapers, may from time to time, by
notification in the Official Gazette, make an order providing for the
regulation of the prices charged for newspapers. The price is fixed in
relation to their maximum or minimum number of pages.
Before making any order under this section, the Central Government shall
consult associations of publishers. and such publishers likely to be affected
by the order as it may think fit with respect to the action proposed to be
taken.

20. Newspaper Price and Page Act, 1956
Returns be furnished by newspapers. The Press Registrar appointed under
the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867 may, from time to time,
direct the publisher of any newspaper to furnish to him weekly returns
and statistics with respect to the flow of advertisement and other matters
concerned with the normal working of the newspaper. The publisher of
every newspaper shall comply with such direction.
If the publisher of any newspaper-
• refuses or neglects to comply with any direction of the Press Registrar; or
• furnishes or causes to be furnished to the Press Registrar any weekly
returns or statistics which are false shall be punishable with fine which
may extend to five hundred rupees

21. Newspaper Price Control Act

22. Newspaper Price Control Act, 1972
Salient features of the Act:
For the purpose of securing the availability of newspaper, the government
may by an order published in the Official Gazette determine the maximum
price of newspaper to be charged under Sec 3 of this act.
The maximum price determined shall not be less than the basic price of
the newspaper.
No order shall me made in respect of newspapers sold at a price
exceeding the basic price.
Prices of newspapers may vary in respect of different newspapers.

23. Newspaper Price Control Act, 1972
• If the owner of the newspaper is aggrieved of any such order by the
government, he can apply for a revision within thirty days of the
publication of such notification stating the reasons for which he thinks a
revision is necessary.
• The owner or the publisher of the newspaper is bound to return a report
which the Central Govt may consider necessary for carrying out the Act.
• No newspaper shall be sold in territories to which this Act extends in
contravention of an order made under Sec 3.
• Whosoever sells a newspaper in contravention of Sec 3 of this act shall be
punished with a fine.