Unless the Supreme Court intervenes, NDTV India will go off air for one whole day on November 9. This is because the government, Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to be precise, issued a 24-hour ban on the channel for its reportage during the terror attack on Pathankot airbase.
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ContributeIt is the government’s contention that NDTV India gave out “sensitive” information on January 2016, while the Pathankot airbase was under siege, jeopardising “national security”. The channel, on the other hand, has stated that it reported on facts that were already out in the public domain. What we can say conclusively is that NDTV India was not the only channel to report on or give out “sensitive information”. The selective ban, then, is questionable.
More importantly, a ban on a news outlet can in no circumstance portend well for the state of press freedom in the country.
This is not to say reporters shouldn’t be careful while covering a terror attack or an ongoing armed forces’ operation. A repeat of 26/11 is not desirable, but are arbitrary programming rules applied to select channels the way to ensure this?
Given the delicacy of the issue and the precedence this ban on NDTV India sets, you’d expect media professionals to stand up against the ban, setting aside petty TRP rivalries. This is, after all, not so much about NDTV India’s reportage on Pathankot, as it is about government-induced bans and vague laws being used to silence free speech.
Predictably that didn’t happen.
We are the nationalists
Just today, Subhash Chandra, owner of one of India’s biggest Hindi news channels said that a day’s ban isn’t enough.
Trust the parivaar at Zee News to keep it classy.
India Today anchor Gaurav Sawant couldn’t resist taking a jibe at those expressing solidarity with NDTV India.
Stand by NDTV
There’s still hope though. Owners of Big Media organisations like Times of India put their weight behind free press.
Prominent journalists in TV and newspapers followed suit.
Posting the screenshot of the statement by Editor’s Guild of India, Shekhar Gupta said:
Question hour
Amid the support for NDTV India, there were those who reminded us why outrage must not be solely reserved for those sitting in Delhi studios.
Tomorrow, the top courts will decide on the ban and whether it is unconstitutional, as NDTV India contends. Regardless of whether the courts uphold freedom of press, we know there are those in the media who don’t. That is perhaps more worrying for Indian media than the ban itself?
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