On Friday, two Malayalam television channels – Asianet News and MediaOne – were taken off the air. The ban, though it was revoked after six hours, poses questions about the kind of journalism Indian media should follow as well as about why two media houses from Kerala – a state whose media has often been lauded for asking questions to those in power – were the target.
TNM spoke to Editor of Asianet News MG Radhakrishnan, who shares the view that the ban reflects the current climate of intense intolerance towards criticism.
The Information and Broadcasting Ministry issued a 48-hour ban on the two TV channels for their coverage of the Delhi riots. The ministry said that the TV channels’ coverage of the riots had been biased, critical of the Delhi police and could have incited violence.
“There could be two reasons behind the ban,” Radhakrishnan says.
“One reason could be to teach Kerala a lesson for firmly resisting the right-wing agenda. Second is that followers of the BJP in Kerala have been consistently sending out complaints to both the party’s national unit and the union government against Asianet for being critical of the party. BJP followers are more offended because our group of companies is run by Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who is a BJP MP. BJP followers wonder why the party is flayed on a channel that is run by a party person. This is why Asianet mostly becomes a target than any other media outlet. It is the most unbearable thing.
“Other channels do oppose BJP’s policies but Asianet has become the target because of this way of thinking. There has been no move against Kairali, the pro-Left channel which also takes on the BJP. In the case of MediaOne the grudge could be because it is run by a Muslim group. But in the case of Asianet it’s because of this viewpoint of the BJP workers,” he says.
The ban came as a shock for being an extreme step against the freedom of expression and against dissent. Both the Left and the Congress in the state unanimously slammed the union government for imposing the ban.
Radhakrishnan further says, “This was not only the first time that such a ban was imposed on Asianet but it’s also an unprecedented move for Kerala as well as for India in general. The only other time this happened in India was when NDTV India was banned for a day in November 2016. It’s beyond understanding that two television channels, watched by only 4% people in the country, were handpicked for the ban. This is truly a recognition of the kind of work we were doing. The ban proves that we are doing journalism in the best way possible. Not only that, it’s a huge endorsement from the BJP that two Malayalam channels have this much influence in the national capital.”
Prior to the ban, the ministry had issued a show cause notice to Asianet a few days ago to which the channel had responded in detail.
“We had asked for a week’s time to respond to the notice, but they gave only two days. And we gave our reply within that time. Then we came to know about the ban sometime before we were taken off the air from some unofficial sources. We were not informed but the transmission section was, which is a separate company. It was my show that was on air when the ban was imposed,” the editor says.
Radhakrishnan, however, rejects rumours that the ban was lifted after his channel had apologised. Such rumours were also proved to be baseless following the statement from Union I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar, who hinted that some wrongdoing happened in his department.
“It’s a lie that we apologised. Union Minister of state V Muraleedharan and some other BJP leaders were the ones who said so. But Prakash Javadekar’s statement proved that to be baseless. The Minister spoke to the media and said that it shouldn’t have happened,” Radhakrishnan says.
In November 2016, the I&B ministry ordered NDTV India to go off the air. The ban was for allegedly divulging strategically sensitive details about the Pathankot air base. With the latest ban on the two Malayalam channels, many opine that an undeclared emergency is existing in the country.
“Times are such that tolerance towards criticism seems to be becoming less and less. The ban could have been born out of this intolerance. The present government at the Centre and the BJP have always shown intense intolerance. The most relevant responsibility of Asianet News at all times is to criticise any wrong policies of the government, be it the Left, the Congress or the BJP, because we believe that the government in power is primarily accountable to the people,” he says.
CL Thomas, editor-in-chief of MediaOne, called the ban a blatant attack on free and fair journalism, saying that the channel would legally fight it.
Radhakrishnan says that the ban will not impact in any way the kind of journalism Asianet News has been doing.
“We don’t think we have done anything wrong. And we have become clearer on what’s right, particularly after Prakash Javadekar’s statement. We will keep doing the right thing with even more vigilance, we will continue doing journalism with the strength which we have been doing,” he concludes.