Urging the government to withdraw its show cause notices to three TV channels for their coverage related to Yakub Memon hanging, the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) today said the matter should be instead referred to News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA).
Expressing its concern over the matter, the NBA said that since the government has said it believes in independence of media, it should refer the matter to NBSA, which is a self-regulatory mechanism set up by the broadcasters.
In a statement released here, the NBA -- a body comprising leading TV news channels -- said that it is "deeply concerned" at the show cause notices issued to three channels NDTV 24x7/NDTV India, Aajtak and ABP News.
The notices, it said, were reportedly issued for having aired phone interviews of Chhota Shakeel on two channels, which "according to the Ministry cast aspersions against the integrity of the President on India and the judiciary and can incite violence and lead to law and order problems".
"Since the present government has gone on record to state that it believes the media should be independent, without any government interference and it should self regulate itself, NBA urges the Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting to withdraw the show cause notices issued and refer them to the New Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA), which would consider them under its regulations," the NBA said.
The NBSA is a self regulatory mechanism set up by the news broadcasting industry with former Supreme Court judge RV Raveendran as its Chairperson.
Unhappy with the coverage related to the hanging of Memon by three leading news broadcasters, the I&B Ministry has issued show-cause notice to them, asking why action should not be taken against them.
The Ministry had felt that some parts of the coverage by these news channels were inappropriate following which they have been asked to explain how their coverage does not violate the sections of the Programme Code.
