ITV

Tag: Uma Khurana

  • News broadcasters look to finalise content code before month-end

    NEW DELHI: With growing pressure following the infamous Uma Khurana sting operation, broadcasters are working towards finalising their Content Code before the end of this month, and the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) has convened a meeting early next week to discuss the issue.

    The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) has already indicated to the information and broadcasting ministry that it will finalise its Code by the end of January. 

    The ministry is itself under a direction from the Delhi High Court to give its views on the status of an attempt to bring in a regulation. In a decision given last month, the High Court, while responding to a set of PILs, had asked the ministry to come with its response within ten weeks.

    Accordingly, the ministry has called a meeting of stakeholders in the second half of this month to take their inputs, an official said.

    According to an IBF official, a preliminary draft is ready but will be subjected to threadbare discussion at the Mumbai meeting following which a final version may be drafted to be submitted to the ministry.

    NBA claims it has already formulated its own code and a grievance redressal mechanism and handed over the draft to senior advocate and former solicitor general of India Harish Salve, who is helping the association in the preparation of the code. ”Since, we deal with the news and current affairs, our issues are very different. The IBF is drafting a code relating to entertainment programmes which would require different parameters,” an NBA official said.

    The Editors Guild is also working on a model code and a self-regulation mechanism.

    The government had prepared a Content Code with the help of various stakeholders and even placed it on the Ministry’s website mib.nic.in for comments and fixed a final date of 5 August, 2007 for this purpose, but met with stiff resistance. 

    The fake sting operation resulted in the Courts intervening and the ministry stepping up pressure for some regulation in the broadcasting sector, even as the Broadcasting Services Regulation Bill remains in cold storage.

  • Delhi HC fallout: NBA chastises motivated stings

    Delhi HC fallout: NBA chastises motivated stings

    NEW DELHI: For the first time since its inception, the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) have officially criticised motivated sting operations on TV news channels, saying that the Delhi High Court’s suggestion that an I&B ministry committee clear all stings before going on air is a matter of grave concern.

    In a press note, NBA president G Krishnan said, “We condemn motivated reporting that attempts to fabricate news to gain popularity at the cost of journalistic integrity.”

    Krishnan also added that such acts risk discrediting television news and indeed the news media as a whole.

    “But this does not mean that sting operations are wrong in principle. The NBA believes that sting operations are a legitimate journalistic tool and means of investigation, but like all powerful tools they have to be used with care and responsibility,” he emphasised.

    It may be recalled that on 30 August, the TV news channel India Live had shown a ‘sting’ that purportedly ‘caught’ Uma Khurana, a school teacher, using her students for flesh trade.

    While the so-called news exposé caused rioting in Delhi’s congested Dariya Ganj area, within two days the operation had been found to be fake, the reporter arrested and a while later, Khurana was cleared by the police.

    Dismissing the case two days ago, the Delhi HC chastised sensational reporting and suggested that the concerned ministry set up a committee to subject all stings to scrutiny and give them clearance, which the journalistic circle has been alarmed about.

    If the ministry were to take up the court’s suggestion at all, there would be clear chances of censorship, the media has felt widely.

    “We have noted with concern the suggestion of the Delhi High Court that the I&B Ministry set up a committee to vet sting operations and issue no-objection certificates on being satisfied that they serve the public interest, before the stories are telecast,” a press statement from NBA said.

    Krishnan said, “We are all aware that events of the recent past have called sting operations to question on grounds of authenticity, but stray incidents do not warrant such interference, which is totally against the tenets of democracy, free speech and the freedom of the press.”

    The NBA feels that the suggestion that a telecast of news receive prior permission of the Government would constitute censorship of news and would, for that reason, constitute “content control” and thereby an unacceptable restraint on the right of free speech.

    “As much as stray incidents of irresponsible reporting cannot constitute a basis for imposing censorship upon the print media, such incidents of abuse of ethics cannot constitute a basis of imposing censorship upon the electronic media,” said the statement.

    The NBA is in the process of formulating a code of self-regulation for news and current affairs channels. Senior advocate and former Solicitor General of India Harish Salve is helping the NBA in finalising the self-regulation guidelines and grievance redressal mechanism.

    Krishnan said, “The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has been encouraging our endeavour towards self-regulation. We trust the government will view the present suggestion in the same supportive spirit and resist attempts and suggestions to interfere with the press.”

  • Delhi HC warns news channels on irresponsible stings

    NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court warned the news channels in being cautious and circumspect on airing sting operations, and suggested that the I&B Ministry should set up a committee to ferret stings before they are aired.

    The TV news channel Live India which had aired a fake sting operation on a woman school teacher, has been let off after warning and the court clearly admonished the TV news industry for blindly chasing TRPs (television rating point).

    Live India had shown a woman teacher, Uma Khurana, as being involved in a sex racket. This had come for widespread criticism after it transpired that the sting was a fake, and the court said this was an entrapment.

    The Bench comprising Chief Justice M K Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Khanna said that damage to the reputation of anyone for the interest of channels chasing TRPs must be avoided in the future, without of course going so far as to ban stings.

    The court, while suggesting guidelines, said that every reporter and news channel doing a sting operation should give an undertaking regarding its veracity.

    The court said the editor-in-chief and senior journalists of a TV channel must be more “mature” and “circumspect” while airing sting operations, which must not damage anyone’s reputation.

    “No doubt the media is well within its domain in resorting to investigative journalism to bring us face to face with the ugly underbelly of society,” the Bench said.

    “There is no doubt and there is no second opinion that truth is required to be shown to the public in their interest and the same can be shown whether in the nature of sting operation or otherwise, but we feel that entrapment of any person should not be resorted to and should not be permitted,” the Court said.

    The channel had shown the ‘sting’ on 30 August, which had led to rioting in Central Delhi’s crowded Chandni Chowk area and Khurana had been beaten up by an irate mob. But two days later, Hindustan Times exposed the channel; one reporter and an aspiring lady reporter had faked the ‘sting’.

    The High Court had then taken up the matter suo moto and on Friday, dismissed the case after admonishing the channel, and warning the TV news industry in general.

    Later, Delhi Police had after investigation said that Khurana had not been involved in any form of flesh trade or trafficking in women.

  • Teacher files defamation against channel for fake sting

    NEW DELHI: Even as a Delhi Metropolitan Court granted bail to Live India reporter Prakash Singh and co-accused Virender Arora, Delhi school teacher Uma Khurana who was made the victim of a fake sting two months earlier filed a criminal defamation case against the television channel.

    The sting operation aired on 30 August showed the teacher running an alleged prostitution and resulted in widespread violence in the Darya Ganj in central Delhi where the school where she was teaching is located.

    In her criminal defamation case before the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Jindal against the channel, its CEO Sudhir Chaudhary and accused reporter Prakash Singh, the teacher has said she had been removed from service and subjected to different kinds of mental agony, strain, harassment, humiliation and earned a bad name in the eyes of the public and society.

    Earlier, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Alok Agarwal granted bail to the reporter and businessman Arora.

    Forty-one year old Khurana had been discharged by Aggarwal earlier this week and fixed 15 November for argument on charges against the other three accused — TV reporters Prakash Singh and Rashmi Singh, and Arora. The police have charged the trio for criminal conspiracy for using forged electronic record.

    A week after the telecast, it was discovered that the operation was a hoax and the girl ‘victim’ shown in the TV sting was, in fact, TV journalist Rashmi Singh. Khurana was granted bail on 11 September.

  • Govt. issues showcause notice to Live India on fake sting

    NEW DELHI: Live India, which ran into controversy after telecasting a sting operation that was subsequently declared as fake, has been issued a showcause notice by the information and broadcasting ministry.

    “A notice has been issued to the channel to show cause why its licence and permission to uplink should not be withdrawn for carrying out a fake sting and violating the Programme Code as well as the regulations under the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act 1995,” confirms a senior ministry official, speaking to Indiantelevision.com.

    “The Act is clear that ‘no person shall transmit or re-transmit through a cable service any programme unless such programme is in conformity with the prescribed Programme Code,” the source adds.

    Queried about the government notice, Broadcast Initiative Ltd promoter Markand Adhikari, however, refuted it. “I am not aware of any showcause notice issued by the ministry,” Adhikari stated.

    Meanwhile, Live India is facing the ire of the government on the one hand and other TV news channels on the other, as the incident has come at a time when there is growing confrontation between the I&B Ministry and news broadcasters on the need or relevance of an imposed Content Code.

    The channel’s reporters Prakash Singh and Rashmi Singh are in police custody, while school teacher Uma Khurana has been granted bail in the fake sting which showed her using her own students for prostitution.

    Businessman Virendra Arora, who is said to have wanted to recover money reportedly owed to him by Khurana, now stands accused of having hatched the conspiracy using Singh.

  • NBA condemns fake stings, warns govt against undue intervention

    NEW DELHI: For the first time since the Uma Khurana sting, in which the school teacher was shown getting girl students into prostitution, the News Broadcasters Association has openly denounced the fake sting in partucular and similar attempts, if any.

    In a press statement signed by NBA Secretary General Annie Joseph, the organisation has, however, also expressed concerns about the government’s role in news media.

    “The recent sting operation aired by TV channel Live India and events following it have raised substantial and serious issues.

    “The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) unequivocally condemns any attempt by anyone to fabricate news and to attempt to gain popularity at the cost of journalistic integrity. Such acts risk discrediting television news, and indeed the news media, as a whole,” the statement says.

    However, it adds that this does not mean that sting operations are wrong in principle. The NBA believes that sting operations are a legitimate journalistic tool and means of investigation, but like all powerful tools they have to be used with care and responsibility.

    “However, the NBA continues to question the role of government in media.

    “Regrettably, the present instance is only the latest in a series of government interventions in media content in the recent past, including several cases of suspension of licensed TV channels. In each instance the key question left unanswered was how and by what process it was determined that there was an offence; and on what basis the penalty was determined.

    “A free and independent media is the cornerstone of India’s powerful democracy, and it behoves an elected government to support and strengthen that freedom.

    “The NBA knows that with freedom comes responsibility, and respects the role of government in ensuring such responsibility.

    “However, it also believes that to do so requires a transparent and codified process. Government intervention in news content without a transparent, codified process and basis is nothing short of censorship, and a threat to the freedom of the press – and in turn to the health of the democracy.
    “In acknowledgement of the responsibility of the press, a committee of Editors of member channels of the NBA is framing guidelines for self-regulation for news and current affairs channels, for implementation at the earliest,” the statement concluded.

    However, it is notable that the NBA has not yet issued any statement on a national TV channel and powerful broadcaster group showeing the video of a former film starlet bathing in the nude inside a jail. That footage has been hauled up by the Supreme Court. NBA has so far offered no comments on that.

    The NBA, in the meanwhile, is in the process of formulating its own Code of Content, a first draft of which is going to be circulated among the NBA members, with an attempt to involve all news channels across the country, to make it a national, standard Code that is enforceable.