Govt notices to 2 news channels

NEW DELHI: The ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) has issued notices to two television news channels for broadcasting the media briefing of Pakistan army spokesperson on February 22 and said this violates the programme code laid down in the Cable Television Networks (regulation) Act, 1995.

According to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named, notices have been sent to Tiranga TV and ABP news, asking them why action should not be taken against them for breaching the norms.

Both the channels, and the News Broadcasters Association (NBA), which represents the private television news and current affairs broadcasters, did not respond to messages.

Soon after the February 14 Pulwama terror attack, which left 40 troopers of the CRPF dead, the ministry issued a notice to all TV channels to ensure no content likely to encourage or incite violence or promoting anti-national tendencies was aired.

In its show cause notice to the Tiranga, the ministry said, “Tiranga TV has shown the said media briefing for a duration of 20 minutes and 45 seconds, during which there was no intervention from the channel on the correctness or otherwise of the claims being made in the said media briefing.”

An MIB official said a similar notice has been sent to ABP.

Hindustan Times has seen a copy of the notice sent to Tiranga.

The two channels have been given seven days to respond to the notice.

Commenting on the notices, NK Singh, senior executive member of the Broadcast Editors’ Association said, “Speaking in my capacity as a member of BEA I feel we issue periodic advisories to members on the do’s and don’ts. There is a need for all channels to be more sensitive at a time when the country is hypersensitive vi-a-vis Pakistan. Showing deferred live of events is a stated positions and channels must ensure that rules pertaining to content are adhered to.”

Broadcast Editors’ Association is yet to issue a formal statement on the issue.