Natural Law, Constitutionalism and Media Laws: What’s Amiss in Media Regulations?

Abstract

The adverse effects of media today mandate the mulling of appropriate reforms for effective regulation of media. The research in hand attempts to study the adverse impacts of biased reporting and subsequently suggests suitable reforms for improving media legislation. The methodology is descriptive, comparative, and critical. Findings propose minimum content of media laws for all jurisdictions based on naturalism and constitutionalism. Naturalism and constitutionalism are the ends of the law and provide protection of life, liberty, property, dignity, etc. Naturalism means natural law i.e. ultimate values to which all laws must conform. Constitutionalism in this research connotes the ultimate law in a country based on natural law e.g. U.S. Constitution which is based on natural law. Results have significance across the world for improving the standards of media reporting. Studies of this kind proposing media reforms have been attempted before without any meaningful results proposed. U.S., India, and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan have been chosen for case studies of media laws due to the rise of increasing intolerance in these countries.