Govt Suspends TV News Channel A Second Time; Know Why

Picture courtesy Twitter

New Delhi: The Union government has, for the second time, suspended telecast of Malayalam news channel MediaOne TV, citing “security concerns”.

“MediaOne channel telecast has once again been disallowed by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, citing security reasons. The Government has not been forthcoming with the details,” MediaOne TV editor Pramod Raman said in a press release.

He added that urgent legal steps are being taken for restoration of the channel.

“MediaOne is taking urgent legal steps for the restoration of the channel, and hope to get back to the viewers as soon as we can. For the time being, we are suspending our telecast, confident that justice will prevail,” the release read.

The Information and Broadcasting (I & B) ministry had earlier briefly suspended one of Kerala’s leading news channels for “biased” coverage of the 2020 Delhi riots “towards a particular community” which violated the Cable TV Act.

The government’s decision was flayed by Indian Union Muslim League MP ET Muhammed Basheer.

“Centre’s ban on MediaOne TV is highly reprehensible. This is the second time that the Central Government has imposed a ban on MediaOne TV. Yet another attempt to silence the political dissent through outright fascism. All people of India should unite against this tyranny,” Basheer tweeted.