NDTV moves SC against one-day ban over Pathankot coverage

Challenging Centre's order to black out its Hindi channel for one day, NDTV has predictably moved the Supreme Court against the proposed ban, calling it 'unconstitutional.'

In a report on its website, NDTV has said that it refuted the allegations and pointed out that ''other channels and newspapers reported the same information''. The ban is supposed to be implemented from 1 am on 9 November till1 am of 10 November 10, 2016.

This is the first ever such order against a TV channel over its coverage of a terror attack, the norms regarding which were notified in 2015. The Editors' Guild of India and the opposition have condemned the ban and demanded that the decision be withdrawn immediately, saying it was reminiscent of the Emergency period. (See: Editors' Guild, opposition slam one-day ban on NDTV India).

''The ostensible reason for the order as reported is that the channel's coverage of Pathankot terror attack on 2 January 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 government, however, has defended the ban, saying freedom of press is important but the nation comes first. ''We support freedom of press in a democracy but the nation comes first. There cannot be any compromise on national security,'' Bharatiya Janata Party national secretary Shrikant Sharma said.

Meanwhile, a blog that has gone viral compares reports from various channels to conclude that NDTV is right in its contention that it has been singled out although other channels reported the same events in almost the same language.

In fact, hours before NDTV broadcasted their show, three defence spokespersons held a press briefing, which was telecast live by all channels. They gave out details like this:

"The Operation is still on, and as I have told you, this is quite a big airbase and other than strategic assets, there are families here, there's a school here. It is like a mini-city."

Was this not "strategically sensitive" information?

"The question is, was it because it (NDTV India) had given out strategically sensitive information or is it because the government wants to use the ban to bring about a 'chilling effect' on the channel's independence?" the blog asks.