On March 6, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting ordered a 48-hour blackout of Asianet News and Media One for “biased” reporting on the Delhi riots. Following an outcry, however, the order was rolled back within hours.

The ministry had issued an advisory on February 25 instructing private TV news channels to strictly adhere to the Programme and Advertising Codes as prescribed in the Cable Television Networks Regulation Act, 1995 — and both Media One and Asianet were punished for violating these rules.

And a few weeks earlier, I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar had said in the Lok Sabha, “Appropriate action is taken against TV channels in case violation of the Programme and Advertising Codes is established.”

Considering that no other TV channel was punished, is it safe to assume their coverage of the Delhi violence didn’t violate these rules?

The ministry’s main charge against Asianet News and Media One was that their programming “could enhance the communal disharmony across the country when the situation is highly volatile”.

Revoking the ban, Javadekar insisted that the Narendra Modi government was committed to free speech, an admission perhaps that the restriction had more to do with curtailing press freedom than clamping down on coverage that spread misinformation or hate speech, particularly during a sensitive time.

Since scores of media outlets covered the violence but Asianet News and Media One alone were punished, the question is: were they soft targets? If maintaining communal harmony was the main objective of the government, was it really keeping an eye on misreporting by other news channels during the riots?

An examination of the coverage by some broadcasters provides the answer.

Sudarshan News

Look at the following report by Sudarshan News on its February 26 show, Jawab Toh Chahiye. Titled “Jihadiyon ka jhund”, or a mob of jihadis, it sweepingly blamed the violence in Delhi on “Islamist fundamentalists”.

The anchor, Lavani Vinit, began the show with three questions. “How did the jihadi mob come to Delhi? How did the jihadi mob hold Delhi hostage in this way? How did the jihadi mob throw Delhi into the pit of fire?”