Define ‘anti-national attitude’: Parliamentary panel

The observation was made by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology, headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor

Rule 6(1)(e) of the Cable Network (CTN) Rules, 2014 states that no programme should be carried in cable service which is likely to encourage or incite violence or contain anything against maintenance of law and order or which promote “anti-national attitude”.

A parliamentary panel on Wednesday asked the information and broadcasting Ministry to properly define the term “anti-national attitude” used in the Cable Network Rules, 2014, saying it may be the cause of unnecessary harassment of private channels.

In its 27th report on 'Ethical Standards in Media Coverage', the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Communications and Information Technology, headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, observed that the term needed to be properly defined to remove any ambiguity in its interpretation.

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Rule 6(1)(e) of the Cable Network (CTN) Rules, 2014 states that no programme should be carried in cable service which is likely to encourage or incite violence or contain anything against maintenance of law and order or which promote “anti-national attitude”.

“The term 'anti-national attitude' has, however, not been separately defined in the programme code enumerated in the CTN Rules, 1994. The Ministry has justified that 'anti-national' is commonly understood as opposed to national interests or nationalism,” the panel said.

“However, the committee is of the considered opinion that the term 'anti-national attitude' used in Rule 6(1)(e) of the Cable Network Rules, 2014 may be the cause of unnecessary harassment of the private channels and therefore recommend that the term 'anti-national attitude' be properly defined to remove any ambiguity in the interpretation of the term in the prescribed code,” it said.