2 Malayalam news channels banned for 48 hrs over reporting on Delhi riots

New Delhi: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry on Friday suspended the broadcast of two Kerala-based news channels for 48 hours over their coverage of the violence in northeast Delhi, saying such reportage could enhance communal disharmony.

The two channels — Media One and Asianet News TV — were earlier issued a show cause notice and after they filed their replies, the ministry found them to be in violation of the Programme Code prescribed under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995.

The ministry ordered prohibition of transmission or re-transmission of Media One and Asianet News TV for 48 hours on any platform throughout India with effect from 7.30 pm on March 6 to 7.30 pm on March 8.

On Saturday, condemning the 48 hours ban, MediaOne TV released a press statement calling the Ministry's move "blatant attack against free and fair reporting."

The orders issued to the two channels cited the instances of reporting which were in contravention with the rules and stated that such reporting could "enhance the communal disharmony" across the country when the situation is "highly volatile".

However, Asianet News was back on air on Saturday morning.