Image Courtesy:latestly.com

“Television debates using unparliamentary language, journalists making fabricated claims,” stated a strong advisory issued by the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on Saturday. The Ministry has warned private TV news channels against “making false claims and using scandalous headlines” and stated that they adhere to “the provisions of Section 20 of The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 including to  the Programme Code laid down under it.”

The satellite TV channels were pulled up for their coverage of the recent communal unrest in North-west Delhi’s Jahangirpuri on Hanuman Jayanti and even the Russia-Ukraine war. The I&B ministry has now warned that the Central government can “regulate or prohibit the transmission of a channel or programme” if it “considers it necessary”. It stated that some channels are covering events in a way “that appears to be unauthentic, misleading, sensational and using socially unacceptable language and remarks, offending good taste and decency.” 

On the Ukraine coverage the Ministry stated that channels have been making “unsubstantiated and fabricated claims and using hyperbole in order to incite audience”. It also stated that channels were “making scandalous headlines unrelated to the news item.” In case of Delhi violence, “certain channels have aired news items with provocative headlines and videos of violence that may incite communal hatred among the communities and disrupt peace and law and order.” The ministry has clearly said that these “channels have further fabricated headlines giving communal colour to actions of authorities.”

Though the Ministry has not named any channel it has found violating these journalist codes and broadcast laws, there have been some channels who have come under sharp criticism for their ‘on ground reports’. Soon after North Delhi Municipal Corportaion’s sudden demolition drive in communally sensitive Jahangirpuri, Aajtak anchor Anjana Om Kashyap was reporting a blow by blow account of the demolition and also rode the JCB deployed by the MCD’s demolition squad. Many others conducted volatile TV debates on the issue later.

Now, the Ministry has noted and “cautioned” private TV channels against broadcasting “debates having unparliamentary, provocative and socially unacceptable language, communal remarks and derogatory references which may have a negative psychological impact on viewers and may also incite communal disharmony and disturb the peace at large,” it stated.

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After the discovery of a Covi-19 positive case, the entire Worli Koliwada area of Mumbai was declared a containment zone and completely sealed off five days ago. No one was allowed in or out, in a bid to contain the spread of the virus. But after supplies ran out, plight of residents worsened.

“We don’t have milk, vegetables or any groceries. What will we feed our children,” asked a resident. “You have to go to a bus stop one kilometer away to get a gas cylinder. Those who have cars and petrol can go bring them, but what about those of us who don’t? Moreover, very often there is only one doctor available for an entire area and there are long lines outside the dispensary. What happens to our sick people? The government said they will supply essentials, but where are they,” asks another.

Meanwhile a TV channel reported that a boat had left Worli-Koliwada and gone to Mahim, thus breaking the quarantine. Following this, the Dadar police arrested three people in connection with the case.

“The TV channel just said that a boat went to Mahim amidst the quarantine, but did not explain why we were forced to do so in the first place. Our corner stores have run dry and even basic things like break and milk are unavailable. Parents will do whatever it takes to ensure their children don’t starve. The boat that went to Mahim got us essential like milk, biscuits and grains,” says a resident.

While residents do not deny that a boat went out during the lockdown, they insist it went two days before the story was telecast on the TV channel. “Some people took a fishing boat to Mahim and bought essential supplies, but that was two days before they showed the story,” says a resident. “TV channels are also saying that trucks of vegetables and grains are being brought in, but that is not true. Why would we need to take out our boats if the supplies were made available to us,” he asks.  

In fact, recently, CJP had helped provide supplies to families of migrant labourers from Jharkhand living in this area. They were stuck in the sealed zone and on the brink of starvation.

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