Chennai journalists protest ‘blackout’ of Puthiya Thalaimurai TV

Journalists in Chennai have staged protests against the alleged blackout of a prominent Tamil news channel, Puthiya Thalaimurai TV, from the state-run cable network TACTV since October 3. 

Media bodies and the opposition allege the blackout was due to the channel’s detailed coverage of actor-politician and TVK chief Vijay’s statewide political tour and the Karur rally stampede, which claimed 41 lives.

The Chennai Press Club condemned the blackout as an act of censorship and called for immediate restoration, noting that previous governments had also been accused of similar tactics against channels. The News Broadcasters Federation (NBF) also condemned the blackout and urged the government to restore the channel on the state network immediately.

Puthiya Thalaimurai TV reportedly went off air across lakhs of homes subscribing to TACTV, which carries over 150 channels in Tamil Nadu. 

The channel’s editor-in-chief, M Samas, stated that they received multiple complaints from viewers unable to access the channel. Although some reports suggest partial restoration in certain districts after negotiations, the outage persists in several areas.

While speaking to NDTV, senior state officials denied any censorship, attributing the interruption to technical glitches, specifically in standard definition set-top boxes. 

However, the lack of prior notice and official explanation has raised skepticism.

Puthiya Thalaimurai previously faced suspension from state cable networks, notably in 2017 after running an unfavourable poll survey during the RK Nagar by-election.

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