Govt revokes ban on two Malayalam news channels, minister says 'press freedom essential'

Hours after two Malayalam channels had been banned for their reportage of the Delhi riots, both have been restored.

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Hours after two Malayalam news channels got banned for two days for their reporting of the Delhi riots by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, both have been restored . I&B minister Prakash Javadekar has been quoted by news agency ANI as saying that the channels were restored immediately after they had found out what actually happened. “Our basic thought process is that press freedom is absolutely essential for a democratic setup,” the minister said.

Javadekar also said that that is the commitment promised by the Modi government since they had fought the Emergency of 1975 by the Indira Gandhi government when press freedom was muzzled. Even the Prime Minister expressed concern on this issue, he said. “I will go into details and take essential steps if (there is) any wrongdoing. Also, everybody accepts it has to be responsible freedom,” the minister added. The minister's response seemed to hint that he was unaware of the order, though it was issued by his own ministry.

Malayalam channels Asianet News and MediaOne had both gone off air at 7.30 pm on Friday after they received the temporary ban for their coverage of the Delhi riots. Both channels began showing a black screen. The ban order from the I&B Ministry had alleged that the channels were provocative, biased and critical ofthe Delhi police, and that they sided with a particular community by showing those who supported the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in poor light. In MediaOne's case, they were accused of being critical of the RSS.

Both the channels have however come back on air in the early hours of Saturday. Asianet News began broadcasting again at 1.30 am while MediaOne was back on air by 9.40 am. TNM has come to learn that Asianet’s board made a representation to the I&B Ministry following which the ban was revoked. MediaOne has however not appealed to the ministry. The channel received a message from the ministry at 9.30 am that transmission may be resumed.