Reading Article
Broadcasters slam ban on TV channel
The two mian broadcasters’ bodies in India have criticised the Centre’s move to bar a TV channel from the airways for a month because of a botched sting operation it carried out on a Delhi school teacher,faseley accusing her of the links with a prostitution racket.
At its annual general meeting,Indian Broadcasting Foundation said it was a part of a trend of “deleivering summary punishments to broadcasters in a trigger happy manner.”The body which represnets all major broadcasters in India said it was concerned at I&B ministry’s attitude. “IBF has noted a series of highly arbitrary and coercive punishments that the ministry has delivered during the last year to a number of broadcaters at its will.All these punishments have been meted out without following any transperent procedure and voilating the basic princilple of natural justice.”
The body said the move appeared “aimed at strangualating the media’s independence and curbing freedom of speech and expression.This is suggestive of censorship of the media.”The IBF was commited to developing and enforcing a socially relevent code of ethics amongst its members,the foundation said.”However it will not accept arbitrariness,lac of trasparancy and strangehold on media.”a statment said.
The News Broadcaters Assoiciation(NBA) condemned the attepmt by Live India channel to “fabricate news and popularity at the cost of journalistic integrety” but it defended the right of media organisations to conduct sting operations.Such acts by TV channels “risk discrediting teleivisions news,and indeed the news media, as a whole.”an NBA statement said.However ,it added “sting operations are a legitimate journalistic tool and means of investigation,but like all powerful tools they have to be used with care and responsibility.”
The NBA said it was setting up a committee of editors of member channels of the association to frame guidelines for selfregulation for news and current affairs channels.
Senior Supreme Court lawer K T S Tulsi said a more apppropriate response to the false srting wolud have been to impose “exemplary damages”on the TV channel, to be paid to the victim of the sting.Simulatineously, criminal action could have been intiated against the reporter.