The Central government on Monday banned the transmission of Malayalam news channel MediaOne over “security reasons”. The ban was later stayed by a single-judge bench of the Kerala High Court for two days
Screengrab of MediaOne TV channel. Courtesy: MediaOne
The Central government on Monday banned the transmission of Malayalam news channel MediaOne over “security reasons”. The ban was later stayed by a single-judge bench of the Kerala High Court for two days.
Responding to a petition filed by MediaOne TV, Justice N Nagaresh stayed the implementation of the Ministry of Information and Broadcast until its next hearing on Wednesday and asked Additional Solicitor General S Manu to get instructions from the Union ministry on the matter, according to a report by the Indian Express.
This is not the first time the Malayalam channel has found itself in hot waters against the Centre, let’s take a look at the current case and why it was banned the last time:
What has happened
On Monday, MediaOne channel received a letter from the I&B ministry barring it from transmission citing security reasons.
Pramod Raman, the editor of MediaOne, said that the government has not been forthcoming with the details.
“The telecast of MediaOne channel has once again been disallowed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, citing security reasons. The Government has not been forthcoming with the details,” Pramod Raman, the Editor of MediaOne, said in a statement.
Senior advocate S Sreekumar and advocate K Rakesh said that the order was received around 1pm and by 1.45 pm a plea was filed with the Kerala High Court, which granted permission for urgent hearing on the matter.
Assistant Solicitor General S Manu, who appeared for the ministry, said he opposed the plea and sought time from the court to get appropriate instructions from the Centre.
The lawyers told the high court that the channel was not involved in any anti-national activity and urged it to direct the ministry to withdraw the order.
The court has put the order on hold till Wednesday.
The channel went off air at 12pm on Monday and resumed transmission at 7pm after the court’s stay on the order.
Earlier incidents
This is not the first time MediaOne has attracted the Centre’s ire. According to a report by The Quint, the TV channel, which is run by Madhyamam Broadcasting, was issued a showcause notice from the ministry.
It asked the channel management why its licence should not be cancelled as the Ministry of Home Affairs had already cancelled its security clearance on “national security” grounds.
The order did not explain which of the channel’s activities were considered a threat to national security.
After the channel wrote back to the ministry stating it had never acted against national security, its licence was renewed in 2019. The channel was allowed to run during the intervening years.
The channel, along with Asianet News, was again barred for 48 hours in 2020 over Delhi riots coverage.
According to The Print, the ministry had decided to ban the two channels over the “biased” coverage of the Delhi riots.
The orders dated 6 March, 2020, stated that the news report carried by Asianet News and MediaOne TV on 25 February, 2020 sided “towards a particular community”.
The showcause notice to MediaOne read, “The MHA has informed that the security clearance has been denied in the past to the proposals of the company and the security clearance may be considered as denied in the present case also.”
Unlike in 2019 when the ministry renewed MediaOne’s licence, after the 2020 order it did not do so.
Instead of renewing the licence, the ministry issued an order on 31 January 2022, asking the company to stop operations.
With inputs from agencies
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