Blocking channels undemocratic, say scribe bodies

TV should not, however, misuse their freedom, felt a roundtable discussion organised by the IJU and the TUWJ

June 28, 2014 12:07 am | Updated November 28, 2021 09:15 pm IST - HYDERABAD:

Senior journalists called for a dialogue between the managements of TV9 and ABN Andhra Jyoti and the Multi System Operators (MSOs) to amicably settle the issue of the blocking of these channels in the Telangana area, even as they made it clear that the MSO action was ‘undemocratic’ and would set a ‘dangerous trend’ in the future.

At a round table discussion organised by the Indian Journalists Union (IJU) and the Telangana Union of Working Journalists (TUWJ) here on Friday, the speakers felt that MSOs could not block the channels and said the decision whether or not to watch the channels should be left to the viewers.

They reminded that even the government had not banned the channels though serious objections were raised on the content aired by TV9 on the newly-elected MLAs from Telangana by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao himself in the Assembly and received support from all the members.

The speakers were also critical of the content being shown on the TV channels.

“Media has no special privileges and the freedom of speech cannot be misused by the channels to ridicule public representatives or any one. But this incident cannot be a reason for the government or other agencies to strangulate media freedom,” was the common view expressed by various speakers.

The MSOs represented by Subash Reddy, Bhasker and Kuldeep Sahani explained the circumstances under which they had blocked the channels. They criticised the channel owners for being autocratic and how they had misused their proximity to the powers that be to meddle with cable operators’ business interests.

MSOs were ready for a dialogue involving the channel managements if journalist unions and government representatives took the initiative.

Senior journalists like K. Ramachandra Murthy, K. Sreenivas Reddy, Devulapalli Amar, Mallepalli Lakshmaiah, K. Amarnath, Telakapalli Ravi, K. Lakshma Reddy and K. Nageshwar, MLC and Prof. Padmaja Shaw shared their views. Virahat Ali, TUWJ Secretary coordinated.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.