Under pressure, UP government lifts ban on TV channels

The Uttar Pradesh government on 14 January lifted the 'unofficial' ban on English news channel- Times Now - in the state.

The UP government has given no official reason for blacking out the channel for 36 hours.

Times Now and Hindi news channel India News were unplugged by cable operators, some of who confessed that they were acting on an informal government order.

There was no official word on what led to the blacking out of the channels since 11 January. However, president of the Cable Service Consumer Protection Committee Ambika Prasad Ojha said: "The telecast of Times Now and India News has been stopped across UP because the CM got offended by their negative coverage of the Saifai Mahotsav."

The channels, however, are available on direct-to-home or DTH platforms, over which the state government doesn't have any special influence.

Within days of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav's open attack on the media for its "negative coverage of Saifai Mahotsav", two new channels - Times Now and India News - were unplugged by cable operators, some of who confessed that they were acting on an informal government orders.

Earlier, I&B minister Manish Tewari said, "The ban is reprehensible and uncalled for. We will take action if the channel complains to us. The complaint will be considered on merit, and if any illegality is found, we will take strict action against the erring MSOs (multi-system operators)."

The UP government has been under severe attack from the media for holding a grand - and expensive - carnival at Saifai, the home town of the Mulayam Singh Yadav clan, at a time when thousands of riot-affected poor people have been left to fend for themselves in the bitter cold in Muzaffarnagar. This juxtaposition, said Ojha, had made the Akhilesh Yadav government furious.

Last week, Akhilesh had slammed the media for "negative coverage" of Saifai Mahotsav saying, "The media should apologise to me, to Netaji (Mulayam Singh, his father) for their reports on Safai... Channels are questioning artistes who performed. I am the CM, ask me. Why question them?" he had said, going to the extent of calling the media "anti-Urdu" and opponents of "Lucknow's tezheeb" for criticizing actors who were "promoting Awadhi culture through their films".

While Times Now was unavailable in Lucknow, Bareilly, Faizabad, Etawah, Allahabad, Gorakhpur and all of UP NCR, both national and regional channels of India News are off air since Friday evening. "Cable operators are not broadcasting both our channels in 12 TRP centres of UP," said an India News source. Opposition parties have slammed the SP government for punishing the media for exposing its failures.

Apart from highlighting the UP regime's insensitivity, Times Now has also been running an investigative story on UP legislators, most of them of the Samajwadi Party, on a multi-nation junket on tax-payer expense.

According to TOI Group, this is clearly an attempt at muzzling the media because the Akhilesh Yadav government isn't pleased with the coverage. Such state-sponsored intimidation has no place in a democracy; it is unacceptable and must be resisted. The government must immediately withdraw its verbal instructions to cable operators to black out these channels. Further, it should be made to pay damages to the affected cable operators and TV channels for having illegally disrupted their businesses.

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/national-news/item/4050-under-pressure,-up-government-lifts-ban-on-tv-channels.htmlSource: http://cablequest.org/news/national-news/item/4050-under-pressure,-up-government-lifts-ban-on-tv-channels.html