| NEW
DELHI: Despite claims that several channels are under watch for showing objectionable
programmes, records of the information and broadcasting ministry show that complaints
against some channels have been pending for almost two years without any action
being taken. And
though the government appeared to be in haste to impose bans on the AXN and FTV
channels and then let them off before the expiry dates, records show the ministry
took several months to take action. The ban on FTV imposed from April this year
for telecast of ‘Midnight Hot’ followed a notice issued as early as
August nine last year, while the ban on AXN in January this year for telecasting
the ‘World’s Sexiest Advertisements’ was based on a notice issued
on 26 June last year. For
FTV, this is the second ban as it was banned earlier in February 2002 for vulgarity
but the decision was reversed a week later when the channel promised to follow
a code of conduct, a promise it has repeated this time as well.
Interestingly,
there have been at least three notices issued to FTV since early 2005, but the
channel has been let off with a warning or simply an ‘advisory’ and
the file closed. A show cause notice was issued to it on 25 May, 2005 ‘for
telecasting several programmes violative of the Programme Code and condition 5.1
of the DTH License Agreement’. The matter was closed by the ministry almost
a year later when a ‘final order’ was issued on 13 April, 2006.
Following a
notice issued on 13 December, 2005 relating to telecasting of obscene programme
on 9 December that year, the records show ‘an advisory has been issued to
FTV advising them to be more careful in future telecasting such content and appreciate
local concerns and cultural contexts’ and the matter was closed. Interestingly,
the advisory stopped short of asking the channel to desist from such telecasts.
The
most astounding case relating to FTV is when notice was issued to it on 30 June
last year for telecasting the advertisement ‘Seagram’s Fling Wicked’
on 20 May that year. The record says ‘final order not issued. Permanent stay
granted by minister for I&B on 28 November, 2006. Matter Closed.’ A
similar order for telecast of the same advertisement was passed in the case of
AXN, MTV, Star Movies, ZEE Cinema, ZEE Studio, Max, and Channel ‘V’.
Many of these channels also attracted notices for publishing other advertisements
of Seagram’s. The
ban on AXN in the wake of the ‘World’s Sexiest Advertisements’
from 17 January till 15 March came for telecasting programmes which the ministry
felt "were against good taste or decency and were likely to adversely affect
public morality." Interestingly,
notice was also issued to AXN on July six last year for telecasting an advertisement
for ‘Yoko Height Increase Device’ on 8 November, 2005, and the matter
is still ‘under consideration’. According
to information supplied on 19 March this year to Delhi journalist Mukesh Kejriwal
by the ministry following a demand by him under the Freedom of Information Act
2005, as many as 206 notices were issued to different channels for telecast of
objectionable material between October 2004 and March this year. The information
supplied also shows cases where the complaint was received through the offices
of the President or the Prime Minister. The
ministry refused permission to Kejriwal to examine the files, claiming exemption
under Section 8(1)(g) of the Act. Kejriwal told indiantelevision.com that he was
unable to fathom how permission could be refused under this section, which says
there will be no obligation to give to a citizen ‘information, the disclosure
of which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify
the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement
or security purposes.’ Of
the cases in which notices were issued, more than 20 are still under various stages
of implementation, including some for which the notices were issued as early as
August 2005. In many of these cases, no reply has been received from the channel,
or the reply received is under process, or a response has been received from the
Central Board of Film Certification on a letter sent by the ministry, and the
matter is under process or ‘under submission for decision’.
There have
been very few cases where permission for uplinking was withdrawn or the channels
were banned, and the matters have been closed in most cases after issuance of
warning, receiving apologies, or after they were directed to run scrolls to the
effect that they had been warned by the ministry. The
information supplied shows that the largest number of notices – 29 - have
been issued to channels associated with the Star Group owned by Rupert Murdoch,
apart from six issued to Channel ‘V’ which is also owned by the same
group. A total of 24 notices were issued to channels associated with the Zee Group.
Among others, eight notices were issued to NDTV, seven to MTV, five to India TV,
and four to Zoom. A
large number of cases relate to news items, some of which attracted major media
attention. Among the pending cases, the ministry is awaiting the reply from Sahara
Samay to its notice issued in July last year for live telecast of rescue of five
persons in October 2005. India TV has replied to a notice issued on November one
last year about the telecast of the much-reported case of a person climbing on
a tower to commit suicide, and the matter is under consideration. | 
