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TV9 ordered to air apology for sting

Last week, the News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA), New Delhi, took suo moto action and issued an order asking channel TV9 Hyderabad to air an apology for the sting operation on the LGBT community.

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Last week, the News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA), New Delhi, took suo moto action and issued an order asking channel TV9 Hyderabad to air an apology for the sting operation on the LGBT community. The NBSA received several written complaints after the channel ran the unflattering story by obtaining personal details of the members of the gay community and having them reveal sexual preferences over the telephone.

Siddhartha Narrain, Alternate Law Forum (ALF), Bangalore said, “This order will set a great example in cases dealing with violation of the right to privacy. In fact, its significance is much wider for the marginalised LGBT community, since many members may not have come out to their families. Such reportage can have harmful consequences, and the one’s ‘exposed’, may consider harming themselves. This order must act as a deterrent to other channels who consider doing such stories,” he said.

Calling the order ‘well-reasoned’, Narrain pointed out that the authorities have picked up fine points. For instance, the order points out that the channel’s claim that the information on the website - names and photographs -- were on “public domain”, is “factually incorrect”. The order noted that the website’s public page did not have personal details and one would have to register to get them. Also, the channel justified the sting as being in “public interest”, but the order pointed out that the material broadcasted was not available on public domain, so the claims that ‘people were indulging in public sex’ by the channel were wrong. The order also mentions that all broadcasted material was in private domain,” he said.

Another interesting aspect of the order is that it noted: “ …the Programme needlessly violated the right to privacy of individuals with possible alternate sexual orientation, no longer considered taboo or a criminal act; and the Programme misused the special tool of “sting-operation” available only to subserve the larger public interest.”

“This order reflects the fact that homosexuality is not an offence,” said Narrain.
   
  

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