TV channels go berserk, sensationalise cases: Supreme Court | India News – Times of India
“When it is a murder, suicide or shootout case, almost every channel goes berserk. By sensationalising coverage of criminal cases, TV channels virtually pre-empt crimi nal investigation,” a bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said. The bench said the court was as concerned as the TV channels about freedom of expression. “But when they are intruding into the privacy of individu als, presume guilt of an accused instead of innocence through their reportage, it needs to be strictly regulated. We are not painting all with the same brush. Obviously, there are responsible channels,” it said.
Self-regulatory body must be more effective: CJI
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta said the fine of Rs 1 lakh was wholly inadequate and the penalty for telecasting programmes that hurt reputation, harmed social fabric or hindered criminal investigations should be proportionate to the amount of advertising revenue earned by the channel for that programme.
The CJI-led bench agreed and said the fine amount was fixed in 2008 and was inadequate. It asked the Centre to file its response to the issue raised in a petition filed by the News Broadcasters Association (NBA). For NBA, senior advocate Arvind Datar said the self-regulatory body was headed by Justice A K Sikri and that he would seek guidance from him as well as previous chairperson Justice R V Raveendran, both retired SC judges, and suggest ways to strengthen the self-regulatory mechanism.
The CJI said, “While we appreciate the fact that there should be a self-regulatory mechanism, the self-regulatory body must be more effective. Merely having aretired SC judge as head of the self-regulatory body is not going to help as their remit is confined by your guidelines. The fine they can impose is Rs 1lakh. How are you proposing to give some biteto the fine?”
