The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued an advisory Saturday to all TV channels to desist from sensationalising coverage of events like the Russia-Ukraine war and clashes between two communities in parts of Delhi and also refrain from putting out unconfirmed reports.

“It has…been found that in the recent past several Satellite TV channels have carried out coverage of events and incidents in a manner, which appears to be unauthentic, misleading, sensational and using socially unacceptable language and remarks, offending good taste and decency, and obscene and defamatory and having communal overtones, all of which appear to be violative of the Programme Code and infringement of the provisions of sub-section (2) of Section 20 of the aforementioned Act,” the MIB advisory observed.

It added: “The Government expresses serious concern about the manner in which the television channels have gone about their operations in the matter of transmitting content and are hereby strongly advised to immediately refrain from publishing and transmitting any content which is violative of the aforementioned provisions of The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 and the rules thereunder.”

The advisory, in particular, draws attention to reporting on Russia-Ukraine conflict, certain incidents in North-West Delhi and of certain news debates.

Some of the points highlighted in the advisory are as follows:

● Channels have been making false claims and frequently misquoting international agencies/actors.

● Use of ‘scandalous headlines/taglines’ that are completely unrelated to the news item.

● Many of the journalists and news anchors of these (TV news) channels made fabricated and hyperbolic statements intending to incite the audiences.

● Similarly, on the recent incident in North-West Delhi, the coverage by the TV channels had provocative headlines and videos of violence that may incite communal hatred among the communities and disrupt peace and law and order situation.

● Disrupting the ongoing investigation process by playing scandalous and unverified CCTV footages

● Showing footages of a specific community, thus aggravating the communal tensions.

● Fabricated headlines sensationalising and giving communal colours to the actions of authority.

“It was also observed that in the news, some of channels broadcast debates having unparliamentary, provocative and socially unacceptable language, communal remarks and derogatory references, which may have a negative psychological impact on viewers and may also incite communal disharmony and disturb the peace at large. Some are also found to be disrespectful, passing on insulting remarks or giving reference to the different religions or faiths or their founders,” the advisory pointed out, listing examples of the transgressions.