Editors Guild, opposition slam one-day ban on NDTV India

The Editors Guild of India today issued a statement condemning the information and broadcasting ministry's order to ban telecast of NDTV India for a day on 9 November for its coverage of the Pathankot terror attacks. The guild also demanded that the decision be withdrawn immediately.

''The ostensible reason for the order as reported is that the channel's coverage of Pathankot terror attack on January 2, 2016 that the government claims gave out sensitive information to the handlers of terrorists. NDTV in its response to a show cause by the government has maintained that its coverage was sober and did not carry any information that had not been covered by the rest of the media, and was in the public domain,'' the statement read.

It added that the decision to take the channel off air for a day was a violation of the freedom of media.

The statement comes a day after I&B ministry's inter-ministerial committee recommended that NDTV India be taken off air for 24 hours. The ministry while invoking the powers under the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act said it "orders to prohibit the transmission or re-transmission of NDTV India channel for one day on any platform throughout India with effect from 00:01 hrs on 9th November, 2016 till 00:01 hrs of 10th November, 2016".

''The decision to take the channel off the air for a day is a direct violation of the freedom of the media and therefore the citizens of India and amounts to harsh censorship imposed by the government reminiscent of the Emergency,'' said the guild's statement signed by its president Raj Chengappa and other office-bearers.

''This first-of-its-kind order to impose a blackout has seen the Central government entrust itself with the power to intervene in the functioning of the media and take arbitrary punitive action as and when it does not agree with the coverage. There are various legal remedies available to both a citizen and a state in the Court of Law to have action taken for any irresponsible media coverage. Imposing a ban without resorting to judicial intervention or oversight violates the fundamental principles of freedom and justice. The Editors Guild of India calls for an immediate withdrawal of the ban order,'' the statement said.

 ''The order of the MIB has been received. It is shocking that NDTV has been singled out in this manner. Every channel and newspaper had similar coverage. In fact NDTV's coverage was particularly balanced. After the dark days of the Emergency when the press was fettered, it is extraordinary that NDTV is being proceeded against in this manner. NDTV is examining all options in this matter,'' said a statement by NDTV on Thursday night.

Opposition parties too were quick to condemn the ban. ''Detaining opposition leaders, blacking out tv channels- all in a day's work in Modiji's India.  #NDTVBanned-shocking & unprecedented'', Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said in a statement issued today that the government's decision proves that an 'emergency-like situation' is prevailing in the country.

Former Jammu & Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah tweeted, ''NDTV India ordered off the air, opposition leaders detained for wanting to show solidarity with family of dead solider. Achhe din anyone?"

On two occasions in the past, NDTV shut itself up - for an hour. The first was when a ban was imposed on the telecast of the documentary India's Daughter on the Nirbhaya gang rape case. This was in March 2015 and NDTV went with a screen with just a flickering candle, in the slot it was supposed to air it. It was a powerful and aesthetic way to register its protest at the decision.

The second was in February this year during the JNU controversy when NDTV India (the group's channel in Hindi) went blank for some 40-odd minutes. TV metamorphosed into radio with its 9 pm anchor Ravish Kumar launching into an acerbic commentary critical of 'mob journalism'.

But it is the latest ban by the government certainly sets an unsavoury precedent.

A reading of the ruling make the charges against NDTV India appear grave. It charges the Hindi channel with revealing "information on the ammunition stockpiled in the airbase, MIGs, fighter planes, rocket launchers, mortars, helicopters, fuel tanks" and this it felt, was likely to be used by the terrorists or their handlers to cause massive harm to national security, lives of civilians and defence personnel. It concluded that the content appeared to violate programming norms.

The channel did not agree with the content of the show cause notice that was issued. It replied that it was a case of "subjective interpretation" and that most of the information they had put out was already in the public domain in print, electronic and social media.

NDTV India had deployed one of its senior reporters, who has 20 years of experience in covering defence and a track record for sober reportage, to Pathankot.

Even otherwise, when compared to its shrill chest-thumping rival channels, NDTV India is known for a more restrained approach - which is perhaps why it is the laggard in the TRP game, and does not even figure in the top 10 - making it a soft target for the MIB.