7 March 2020: The Indian Journalists Union hails the solidarity expressed by organisations and political entities to safeguard freedom of the press by condemning the I&B Ministry’s arbitrary order yesterday banning Asianet News and Media One for 48 hours and forcing it to retreat.
Viewing the ban as a brazen attack on press freedom and the citizen’s right to information, the IJU said that though the I&B Ministry went into damage control by lifting it within six hours, the government must refrain from its ongoing attempts to muzzle the media, particularly those critical of it.
On Friday evening the two Malayalam news channels were taken off air at 7:30 pm on alleged accusation by the I&B that these were telecasting provocative and biased content on Delhi riots which could incite violence. The ban was to be lifted on 7.30 a.m. tomorrow but Asianet resumed telecast at 1.30 a.m. and MediaOne at 9.40 a.m. It is reported that while Asianet Board members made a representation to I&B Minister Javadekar last night, MediaOne said it would fight the order legally.
In a statement, IJU President Geetartha Pathak and Secretary General and IFJ Vice President Sabina Inderjit said that the initial ban was condemnable and that this is not the first time the I&B ministry has sought to ban a news channel. In November 2016, it imposed a one-day ban on NDTV's Hindi channel for ‘broadcasting sensitive details on Pathankot attack’ but later put it on hold after the move was widely condemned and the Supreme Court had agreed to hear the channel’s application seeking a stay.
The IJU said that though the Minister is quoted saying ‘press freedom is a commitment of the Modi government’ and that ‘Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself had expressed concern on this issue,” he must remember that deeds and not words will give confidence to both the media and the people. Making a note of the Minister saying he would ‘look into the details of the ban and take necessary steps if there was any wrong doing,’ the union said it was intrigued how such an order could have been passed in the first place without his knowledge.
Apparently, the two channels had been given a show cause notice and their replies were found to be “in violation” of the Programme Code prescribed under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995. The IJU said the fact that the ban was lifted suggests there was wrong doing in the first place at the Ministry’s end and that action as proposed must be taken. Such arbitrary bans amount to stifling the fourth estate which is unacceptable in any democratic society, said the IJU
