A Parliamentary Committee has favoured statutory regulations for the media, voicing concern over the live telecast of the 60-hour ‘Operation Black Tornado.’
NEW DELHI: A Parliamentary Committee has favoured statutory regulations for the media, voicing concern over the live telecast of the 60-hour ‘Operation Black Tornado’ and citing instances of trial by media.
The committee said the live footage would have served as free intelligence to the perpetrators sitting far away and guiding the attackers.
The Rajya Sabha Committee on Petitions, led by BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu, in its report presented in the House on Friday said the “live feed of commandos being air-dropped directly endangers the success of operations and safety of hostages as well as security forces”.
“The Committee expects the media to treat information of sensitive nature carefully and endeavour to ensure that the interest of nation and lives of security forces and hostages... is not jeopardised,” it said. It noted that the live coverage was partially restricted later because of “some good sense prevailing”. But self-regulation was not in place.
The committee mentioned other instances of media coverage creating problems. In the recent BMW hit-and-run case in Delhi, the accused refused to join the identification parade as his photographs had already been flashed on TV channels.
The panel also had reservations about sting operations “unless and until there is ample evidence to conclusively prove the guilt of the accused”. The abuse of freedom of the press “for creating sensation... enhancing TRPs has to be checked,” it said, citing the case of an innocent school teacher who became the victim of a sham sting that damaged her reputation beyond repair.
The committee also mentioned the Arushi murder case where speculative stories and press conferences by police condemned the victim’s father before the trial had begun.
Self-regulation is an ideal situation but it may not be effective with growing competition among channels. The Committee, therefore, favoured statutory regulations in place, covering the print and electronic media…, on the model of the Press Council of India”.
s_rajesh@dnaindia.net
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