The Kerala High Court has observed that online news channels have a duty to ascertain the veracity of the news before making disparaging remarks against individuals and publishing videos of their personal lives.
Justice V.G. Arun, while recently dismissing the anticipatory bail pleas of two persons in a case registered against them for publishing videos of private moments of a woman, observed that it was disheartening to note that at least some online news channels were in the habit of publishing sleaze more than news. A section of the public also devours such salacious news. In the absence of any mechanism to curb the menace, it is for those channels to introspect and decide whether, by the action of a few, faith in the fourth estate, a powerful pillar of our democracy, is getting eroded, he said.
The court observed that the publication of another person’s private moments for public viewing is, by itself, an offensive act, even if there is no law preventing such action. No person, whether the media or governmental agencies, had the right to peep into the private lives of the citizens of this country, without a valid reason.
