Hours After Going Off Air, Centre Lifts Ban On Asianet, MediaOne Over Coverage Of North East Delhi Riots

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

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.

How on earth can Malayalam channels inflame communal passions in Delhi? Whereas the truly vicious propaganda channels like Ré-pubic & TimesCow continue their brazen distortions w/impunity. @asianetnewstv& @MediaOneTVLive are fine independent media. #LiftTheBan now. https://t.co/0eVQBbRKPx

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) March 6, 2020

Message from Editor in Chief pic.twitter.com/Uizrnw1ERB

— MediaOne TV (@MediaOneTVLive) March 7, 2020