NDTV India ban: There’s a rise in number of cases where media is the target
The one-day ban on leading Hindi TV channel ‘NDTV India’ over its coverage of the Pathankot attack drew sharp condemnation on Friday from the Opposition and the media, which called it “shocking and authoritarian” and reminiscent of Emergency days. The leaders of the non-BJP parties and the media bodies demanded immediate withdrawal of the order imposing the blackout on November 9 2016.
The Editors Guild of India condemned the order as a “direct violation” of the freedom of the press, and similar sentiments were echoed by the Broadcast Editors’ Association (BEA).
“The Editors Guild of India strongly condemns the unprecedented decision of the inter-ministerial committee of the Union ministry of information and broadcasting to take NDTV India off the air for a day and demands that the order be immediately rescinded,” the Guild said in a statement.
“The decision to take the channel off the air for a day is 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.”
Last year, according to a report on “Free Speech in India” by the media watch dog The Hoot, at least 21 cases of censorship were reported including in the broadcast and print media. Additionally 81 cases of defamation, 26 cases of sedition and eight cases of surveillance against journalists were reported against the creative community. The Hoot also reports that in the first four months of this year something like 22 cases of attacks against journalists were reported. The bulk of the cases are in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh, where civil society activists, lawyers, intellectuals and journalists have been hauled up for allegedly siding with the Maoists. The Maoists, on the other hand, accuse them of being police informers. In the case of Tamil Nadu, at least 55 cases had been slapped on people who were found to be speculating about the health of chief minister J Jayalalithaa. Therefore, who are journalists and whether State action on them amounts to attack on journalists is a very difficult call to make. Are journalists only those who are with news organisations? What about the bloggers and opinion-makers who are not part of media institutions? According to this year’s report by the Reporters without Borders that has ranked India a lowly 133 out of 180 countries, “journalists and bloggers are attacked and anathematised by various religious groups that are quick to take offence”.
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