Hours after going off air, Centre lifts ban on Asianet, MediaOne over coverage of North east Delhi riots

Hours after going off air, Centre lifts ban on Asianet, MediaOne over coverage of North east Delhi riots

The Centre was criticised for the move

FPJ Web DeskUpdated: Saturday, March 07, 2020, 12:40 PM IST
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MediaOne & Asianet | @faizal_peraje (twitter)

Hours after the Information and Broadcasting Ministry issued a 48-hour ban on Asianet and MediaOne, the News Minute reported on Saturday morning.

Speaking to mediapersons, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said, "Two Kerala dailies were banned for 48 hours. We immediately found out what actually happened and therefore immediately we restored the channels. Our basic thought process is that press freedom is absolutely essential for a democratic setup. And that is commitment of the Narendra Modi-led government, as we fought emergency in which press freedom was muzzled."

Earlier on Friday, the Centre, in a move reminiscent of the 1975 Emergency, ordered Asianet and MediaOne off the air for 48 hours for what it considers as 'provocative' reporting by them on the Dellhi riots.

Both channels were showing blank screens since 7.30pm on Friday, following the clamp down by the Information and Broadcasting ministry. The channels said they were not even warned before the drastic action.

The Centre's move also resulted in a lot of criticism from across the board

Earlier, the Media One Editor in Chief, CL Thomas, issued a statement, saying that they would fight the ban in court

Earlier, the Kerala Union of Working Journalists has called for a demonstration against the arbitrary action by the Central government. Various political parties and their leaders have condemned the undemocratic action and described it as a move to extend the media clamp down employed in Kashmir to the rest of the country.

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