Harsh censorship by govt reminiscent of Emergency: Editors Guild of India on NDTV row

The Editors Guild of India has strongly condemned the government's decision to black out NDTV India for a day on 9 November and has issued a statement backing NDTV, demanding that the government revoke the order.

The statement from the Editors Guild of India comes in the wake of an inter-ministerial committee of the Information and Broadcasting ministry asking NDTV India to be taken off air for a day on 9 November due to its coverage of the Pathankot terror attacks on 2 January, 2016.

Also Read: All 6 terrorists killed at Pathankot Air Force base

Here is the full statement:

THE EDITORS GUILD OF INDIA

The Editors Guild of India strongly condemns the unprecedented decision of the inter-ministerial committee of the Union Ministry of Information Broadcasting to take NDTV India off the air for a day and demands that the order be immediately rescinded.

The ostensible reason for the order as reported is that the channel's coverage of the Pathankot terror attack on January 2, 2016 that the government claims gave out sensitive information to the handlers of terrorists. NDTV in its response to a show cause by the government has maintained that its coverage was sober and did not carry any information that had not been covered by the rest of the media, and was in the public domain.

Also Read: Inter-ministerial committee of I&B recommend NDTV India to go off air on 9 November

The decision to take the channel off the air for a day is a direct violation of the freedom of the media and therefore the citizens of India and amounts to harsh censorship imposed by the government reminiscent of the Emergency. This first-of-its-kind order to impose a blackout has seen the Central government entrust itself with the power to intervene in the functioning of the media and take arbitrary punitive action as and when it does not agree with the coverage. There are various legal remedies available to both a citizen and a state in the Court of Law to have action taken for any irresponsible media coverage. Imposing a ban without resorting to judicial intervention or oversight violates the fundamental principles of freedom and justice. The Editors Guild of India calls for an immediate withdrawal of the ban order.

Raj Chengappa, President

Prakash Dube, General Secretary

Seema Mustafa, Treasurer