Indian government has slapped a one day ban on NDTV Hindi and News Time Assam for covering terrorist attack on an airbase under the pretext of “security reasons.”
On November 2, the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry directed popular NDTV India and News Time Assam to shut down their broadcast for a day from November 9.
The charge against NDTV was that its coverage of the Pathankot terror attack revealed information about the ammunition stockpiled in the airbase, details of the planes like MiGs, fighter aircraft, rocket launchers, mortars, helicopters, fuel tanks and other details, which could have been used by the terrorists or their handlers to cause massive harm.
In response, the NDTV issued a statement expressing shock at being singled out.
The NDTV has challenged New Delhi’s decision in the Supreme Court, praying that the ban be declared null and void as it was against freedom of the Press and expression.
Indian government has already banned the publication of Srinagar-based Daily Kashmir Reader for covering the protests and forces’ high handedness since July 8 outbreak of spontaneous protests.
The government’s move has been criticized across India by editors from the print, TV and digital media. Editorials pointed out that the NDTV had not divulged operational details that were not already known. They questioned this blanket ban, this attack on free expression by a sweeping invocation of national security.
Across the board, Indian journalists and editors have opposed the one-day ban on NDTV India and News Time Assam, declaring it authoritarian overreach by the government. This is the first time a news channel has been barred for reasons of national security.
This expression of solidarity follows the strong statements last week from the Editors Guild of India, the Broadcast Editors Association and the News Broadcasters Association.
“Every channel and newspaper had similar coverage. In fact NDTV’s coverage was particularly balanced. After the dark days of the Emergency when the Press was fettered, it is extraordinary that NDTV is being proceeded against in this manner. NDTV is examining all options in this matter,”the association said.
“It’s inherently wrong and dangerous for a government committee to have the power to take a TV channel off air,” the association said, adding “We need to take a relook at Sec 20 of the Cable Act.
The power to regulate and penalise a TV network should rest with an independent body, not the government,” said Mukund Padmanabhan, The Hindu editor. India Today consulting editor Rajdeep Sardesai called it a case of government overreach and arbitrariness. “In this case, both the complainant and the adjudicator are the government,” he said.
The Indian government had used Rule 6(1)(p) of the Cable TV Network Regulation Act, which prohibits any program that contains live coverage of any anti-terrorist operation by security forces. The programme code was amended June last year to add the controversial new section.
Demanding a withdrawal of the ban, the Eitors Guild called it “a direct violation of the freedom of the media and therefore the citizens of India, and amounts to harsh censorship imposed by the government reminiscent of the Emergency”. It added that “this first-of-its-kind order to impose a blackout has seen the central government entrust itself with the power to intervene in the functioning of the media and take arbitrary punitive action as and when it does not agree with the coverage.”
“The time has come to not just question the relevance of the program code for broadcasters, but also to uproot this provision of banning altogether.
The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) said that the government should have seen the violation from the “prism of freedom of the media, which is guaranteed in the Constitution and not gone strictly by the regulations under the Cable Act.
Meanwhile, the government continues to defend its decision. Union minister for information & broadcasting Venkaiah Naidu tweeted on Sunday: “Journalists are also citizens, should remember freedom of expression is best utilized only when the value of such freedom is fully appreciated. Information with confirmation is great ammunition and credibility is very important.”
