India bans television news channel for fake sting operation By By dpa news Sep 20, 2007 in Entertainment The Federal Information and Broadcasting Ministry took the decision on Wednesday after the Delhi High Court asked the government to take stringent action against the channel, The Times of India newspaper reported. "This is the first news channel to be banned in the country," the Times report said, adding that the ministry had previously banned French satellite channel Fashion TV and action-adventure channel AXN for what was deemed obscene programming. "However, this is the first instance when a news channel conducting a sting operation has come under the ministry's scanner," the Times reported. Live India TV in its "expose" had claimed that a teacher in a government-run school in Delhi was involved in an organized prostitution racket of school girls. But the Delhi police investigators found no evidence of that and on the contrary revealed that the TV reporter and his friend had hatched a plot to frame the teacher. Live India CEO Sudhir Chaudhary confirmed that the ban had come into effect for a month from Wednesday night. "We have received the communication from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry on the ban," he told the Indian Express daily. Since the advent of satellite TV channels in 1990s in India, a number of local news channels have started operations and several such outlets broadcast reports based on sting operations to boost viewership. Media experts in India have been critical of news content on some of these news channels, saying the bias and "sensationalism" in the their reportage needs to be checked. dpa sk jh India's domestic television news network Live India TV, which is under fire by the judiciary for broadcasting an alleged "fake" sting operation, has been banned by the Indian government for a month, news reports said Thursday.The Federal Information and Broadcasting Ministry took the decision on Wednesday after the Delhi High Court asked the government to take stringent action against the channel, The Times of India newspaper reported."This is the first news channel to be banned in the country," the Times report said, adding that the ministry had previously banned French satellite channel Fashion TV and action-adventure channel AXN for what was deemed obscene programming."However, this is the first instance when a news channel conducting a sting operation has come under the ministry's scanner," the Times reported.Live India TV in its "expose" had claimed that a teacher in a government-run school in Delhi was involved in an organized prostitution racket of school girls.But the Delhi police investigators found no evidence of that and on the contrary revealed that the TV reporter and his friend had hatched a plot to frame the teacher.Live India CEO Sudhir Chaudhary confirmed that the ban had come into effect for a month from Wednesday night. "We have received the communication from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry on the ban," he told the Indian Express daily.Since the advent of satellite TV channels in 1990s in India, a number of local news channels have started operations and several such outlets broadcast reports based on sting operations to boost viewership.Media experts in India have been critical of news content on some of these news channels, saying the bias and "sensationalism" in the their reportage needs to be checked. dpa sk jh India Media