I and B Ministry has arms length relationship with Prasar Bharti: Manish Tewari

Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari on Saturday said the autonomy of Prasar Bharti is guaranteed by an act of Parliament, and added that the I and B ministry has an arms-length relationship with it.

"The autonomy of Prasar Bharti is guaranteed by an act of Parliament. It is a board-run organisation, and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has an arms-length relationship with the Prasar Bharti," Tewari told media here today.

"On the question of autonomy, when I took over as the Information and Broadcasting Minister, it was on my initiative that the Sam Pitroda Committee was constituted," he added.

He also said that one of the terms of reference of the Sam Pitroda Committee was to look into the relationship which the government should have with the Prasar Bharti, and added that the committee has submitted its report, which is being considered by the government.

On Prasar Bharti's CEO blaming DD News for editing Modi's interview, Tewari said, "DD News is a part of the Prasar Bharti. It is not a part of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting."

He also took on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, who tweeted earlier, "I feel very sad to see our national television channel struggling to maintain its professional freedom. We have witnessed the horrors of Emergency when freedom of press and freedom of expression were suppressed. It is a blot on our democracy."

"We are concerned about press freedom in Gujarat. If you could recall correctly, then a journalist of an eminent publication was charged with sedition. He was barred from entering the state secretariat. There are various instances when journalists have complained about harassment and intimidation," said Tewari.

"Therefore, if the Gujarat Chief Minister is worried about press freedom, then I would like to remind that we are equally concerned about press freedom in Gujarat," he added.

In a letter to the board, Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar claimed the "shadow of government" on Doordarshan's credibility and said that Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari had been ignoring his requests for more autonomy.

It was reported on Thursday that Modi during an interview to Doordarshan, had said that Priyanka is 'like his daughter'.

The interview had sparked controversy after it was reported that Doordarshan edited out the portion where Modi made this statement.

Sircar said that the controversial deletions of portions of the interview had been left to the discretion of the public broadcaster's news editorial team.