Media body issues guidelines on covering emergency situations

Terming it as a ‘sincere’ self-regulatory measure, the News Broadcasters Association (NBA), an apex body representing over a dozen news broadcasters, today issued a six-point guideline for the telecast of news relating to emergency situations like armed conflict, hostage situations, internal disturbance, communal violence and public disorder among others.

However, these guidelines do not elaborate on what penalty or punitive action will the NBA take in case of violation by any of its members.

“These are broad guidelines and are not meant to be exhaustive,” a statement from the NBA said. The guidelines say no ‘live’ reporting, which facilitates publicity of any terrorist or militant outfit or glamourises them in any way whatsoever, be done.

“Public interest should be at the top of the mind while reporting sensitive matters like hostage crisis or armed conflicts in emergency situations or it may harm public harmony,” Justice (retd) JS Verma, chairman, News Broadcasting Standards Disputes Redressal Authority told reporters here.

The NBA has constituted this body to ensure that self-regulation is practiced by the news channels without any interference from the government.

The move from the NBA came after the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry issued advisories to over 40 news channels, the NBA, and the Indian Broadcasting Foundations in response to the 60-hour live coverage of the Mumbai terror attacks.

Terming it a ‘coverage against the interest of the nation’, the I&B advisory had said that the news broadcasters did not exercise restraint in airing visuals from the Mumbai attack and other reports related to the tragedy.

Sources say the I&B ministry is working on overhauling the current norms of the programme code and guidelines and may be looking at putting out a clear “do’s” and “don’ts” for the news channels along with actions that may be taken by the government in case of a reported violation, government sources told Business Standard.

The NBA guidelines also makes it clear that news channels should treat the dead with dignity and their visuals should not be shown.