Govt advises broadcasters against showing visuals that are not in 'good taste and decency'

Taking note of some recent incidents where TV news channels showed clips which “grossly compromised on good taste and decency”, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has issued an advisory to broadcasters to attune their systems and practices of reporting incidents of crime, accidents and violence, including death, in conformity with the Programme Code.

“This Ministry has time and again issued advisory to Private  Satellite Te1ex’ision channels for adhering to the Programme Code laid down under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1'995. The Ministry has observed that over the last few months, several television channels including the mainstream channels have reported incidents of accidents, deaths, and violence including  violence against women, children and elderly in manners which  grossly  compromised on  "good  taste  and  decency”, and  were  quite  unpalatable  to  the eyes and ears of a common viewer. Television, being a platform usually watched by families in households with people from all cohorts — old aged, middle-aged. children, etc., and with various socio-economic backgrounds, place certain sense of responsibility and discipline among  the  broadcasters,  which  have  been  enshrined  in the Programme Code and the Advertising Code laid down under the said Act,” read the advisory.

“However, notwithstanding the spirit behind these Codes, television channels have shown dead bodies of individuals and images/videos of injured persons with blood splattered around, people, including women, children and elderly being beaten mercilessly in close shots, continuous cries and shrieks of a child  being beaten by a teacher, shown repeatedly over several minutes including circling the actions thereby making  it  even  more  ghastly,  without  taking  the  precaution  of'  blurring  the images or showing  them from long shots. The manner of reporting such incidents is distasteful, heart wrenching, distressful, indignifying, sensational, thereby offending good taste and decency. Such reporting also have an adverse psychological impact on the children. There is also a crucial issue of invasion of privacy which could be potentially maligning and defamatory.

In most of these cases, it was also observed that these video clips, etc., have been taken by the broadcasters from social media and lilttle effort has  been  made  to  modulate  or attune or edit such clips so as to make it compliant and consistent with  the spirit  of the Programme Code.”

The advisory note further mentioned, “such telecast by the television channels is a matter of grave concern and in view of the larger public interest involved and having regard to the nature of audience of television channels including elderly, women and children, all private television channels are strongly advised to attune their systems and practices of reporting incidents of crime, accidents and violence, including death in conformity with the Programme Code, including the following: -

1. Offends against good taste or decency
2. Contains anything obscene, defamatory, deliberate, false and suggestive innuendos and half truths
3. Criticize, malign  or  slander an individual  in   person   or certain groups, segments of social, public and moral of the country.