This story is from November 4, 2016

1-day ban on TV channel over terror coverage

The government directed NDTV India to go off air for 24 hours starting November 9 midnight for allegedly jeopardizing national security while covering the terror attack on Pathankot airbase in January. This is the first time that a broadcaster has been penalized over coverage of a terror attack.
1-day ban on TV channel over terror coverage
(Representative image)
Key Highlights
  • The govt directed Hindi news channel NDTV India on Thursday to go off air for 24 hours starting from midnight on Nov 9
  • The ban has been imposed for allegedly jeopardizing national security while covering the terror attack on Pathankot airbase in Jan
  • According to the I&B ministry order, the channel’s anchor & reporter had revealed sensitive info during the coverage
NEW DELHI: The government directed Hindi news channel NDTV India on Thursday to go off air for 24 hours starting from midnight on November 9 for allegedly jeopardizing national security while covering the terror attack on Pathankot airbase in January.
This is the first time that a broadcaster has been penalized over coverage of a terror attack. According to the information and broadcasting ministry order, the channel’s anchor and reporter had revealed sensitive information during the coverage of the attack that could have been readily picked up by terrorists hiding in the airbase and their handlers had the potential to “cause massive harm not only to national security but also to the lives of civilians and defence personnel”.
The channel has denied the charge, claiming that it has been singled out.
While the operation to flush out the terrorists was still on, the channel had disclosed information on ammunition stockpiled in the airbase, fighter planes like MIGs, rocket launchers, mortars and fuel tanks.
Official sources said that as the content appeared to violate the programming norms, a show-cause notice was issued to the channel in January. The channel appealed against the order before the inter-ministerial committee (IMC), arguing that the purported violations were based on “subjective interpretation” and that most of the information was already available in print, electronic and social media.
However, the committee remained unconvinced and observed that the channel “appeared to give exact location of the remaining terrorists vis-a-vis sensitive assets in their vicinity.”
The panel said that the channel had given the location of an ammunition depot, a school and residential premises vis-a-vis the space where the terrorists were holed up and recommended that the channel be taken off air for 30 days as penalty for causing “threat to national security”. It later restricted the ban period to a day.

A channel executive said that it had been unfairly singled out and the order would be challenged in the appropriate forum. The ministry, however, maintained that the decision was taken after it was found that the channel had “not shown restraint, responsibility and sensitivity and revealed strategically sensitive details”.
In June 2015, the I&B ministry had introduced a new clause in the programme code that said broadcasters were prohibited from “live coverage of any anti-terrorist operation by security forces, wherein media coverage shall be restricted to periodic briefing by an officer designated by the appropriate government till such operation concludes”.
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