Malayalam news channel MediaOne TV went off air after the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) ministry in an order issued on Monday said the channel does not have the requisite clearance from the Ministry of Home Affairs to operate, and thus the licence granted to it is revoked with immediate effect.
However, News18.com has learnt that MediaOne TV which went off air at 1.30pm on Monday will be back on air by evening. This is because the Kerala High Court has stayed the I&B ministry’s order for two days and the case will now be heard on Wednesday.
In its notice, the I&B ministry said it had granted permission to M/s. Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited to uplink and downlink a News and current affairs TV channel — MediaOne — on 30 September, 2011 and this was valid up to September 29, 2021.
It cited 9.2 of Uplinking Guidelines which states that security clearance to the company and its directors is pre-requisite condition for grant of permission for TV channels and M/s. Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited, in an application dated May 3, 2021, had applied for renewal of permission from the ministry for another 10 years.
However, after the channel’s application for renewal of licence went to the MHA, it denied providing a security clearance to M/s. Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited for renewal of permission for uplinking and downlinking the channel.
The ministry subsequently issued a show-cause notice to the channel on January 5, seeking a response on why the permission granted to them should not be revoked or cancelled, to which the company has said that they are unaware of the grounds for denial of security clearance.
The ministry’s order stated that the reply of the company was examined. While the ministry did not provide any reply to the channel on why its security clearance was denied, it said in the order that it is based on security parameters of the MHA.
“Since the Ministry of Home Affairs has denied the security clearance. The channel cannot be allowed to operate,” the order stated.
Stating that the permission granted to M/s. Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited to uplink and downlink Media One is revoked with immediate effect, the order said the name of this channel will also be removed from the list of permitted channels.
Sources in the channel told News18.com that they were not given the reason why the security clearance to the channel was denied by the MHA, despite it being operational for the past 10 years.
The channel also submitted to the Kerala HC that as it was not aware of why it was being denied MHA’s security clearance, there should be no order revoking its licence without giving it an opportunity to be heard. It also highlighted that the channel or the petitioner has not been involved in any anti-national activity.
Not the first time
This is not the first time that MediaOne was taken off air. In March 2020, MediaOne TV and Asianet News were banned by the I&B ministry for 48 hours over their “biased” coverage of Delhi riots and violated Rule 6 (1)(c) of the Cable TV Network Rules, 1994.
The rule states that “no programme should be carried in cable services that contains attacks on religions or communities or visuals or words contemptuous of religious groups or which promote communal attitudes”.
But the channels were back on air within a few hours with former I&B minister Prakash Javadekar saying that press freedom is absolutely essential for a democratic setup.
He, however, did not say how the channels were taken off air in the first place without his permission.
Read all the Latest India News here
Comments
0 comment