News channels oppose amendments to Cable TV Act

In a meeting held here today, top editors of major television news channels unanimously agreed to oppose the proposed amendments to the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act. The amendments are a “serious assault on the principles of free media and right to speech and expression”, the editors noted.

The government proposal for news channels states that in situations deemed “nationally important”, the channels must get their visuals and footage cleared by a nodal agency. “What it means is television channels can no longer cover communal riots and even agitations like the one seen in Rajasthan during the Gujjar Andolan,” the editors said in a press release issued after the meeting.

Under the proposed amendments, government officials will have the power to decide whether repeat telecast of a footage is necessary or not, and whether any information is unauthenticated and therefore be blocked. These authorities will also decide whether any phone-in of a reporter and victim or their interviews disturb public order or are against national interest.

Vinay Tiwari, executive editor at CNN-IBN, said the government’s proposed amendments to the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act were aimed at reining in television media under the guise of restraining coverage of anti-terror operations or showing sex and crime footage.

Tiwari said that news channels under their representative body, the News Broadcasters Association (NBA), had already unveiled their coverage guidelines post-Mumbai terror attack. The draft self-regulatory guidelines prepared by Justice JS Verma were announced last month. They said that no details of hostages, or sensitive information on rescue operations, would be shared.