New Delhi: The Central Government on Friday imposed a ban against two Malayalam news channels – Asianet News and Media One for their coverage of the riots in North East Delhi last week.
The Information and Broadcasting (I&B) ministry said that the coverage of the Delhi riots was “biased” and their reports “towards a particular community” among other violations of the Cable TV Act.
These channels were out of air for six hours. The ban was imposed from 7.30 pm on Friday.
The ministry had earlier issued an advisory asking television channels not to telecast content that may incite violence during the Delhi riots.
The order for Media One also said the channel’s reporting seemed to be “biased” as it “deliberately focused on the vandalism of the CAA [Citizenship Amendment Act] supporters”.
“It also questions RSS and alleges Delhi Police inaction,” the order said. “Channel seems to be critical towards Delhi Police and RSS”.
The ministry said both channels had violated two provisions under the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994 – one prohibiting coverage of attacks on religions, and another prohibiting coverage that could incite violence or promote “anti-national attitudes” or disturb law and order.
