Kerala based Malayalam News channel namely Mediaone went off the air at 12 noon on Monday, January 31, after the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry suspended its telecast over security concerns. The regional television channel was found to be supporting the radical Islamic organisation Jamaat-e-Islami, according to sources. As a result, the MIB suspended it, citing “security reasons.”
The Kerala High Court, however, on Monday temporarily deferred the order till the next date of hearing. The case will be heard next on Wednesday.
According to reports, the channel’s “security clearance” was revoked by an order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on January 31. The injunction was sent to MediaOne’s parent corporation, Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited, a group owned by the radical Islamist organisation Jamaat-e-Islami.
It becomes imperative to mention here that in the month of July last year, a Kerala-based journalist had revealed how Islamist organisation Jamaat-e-Islami has been receiving funds from Saudi Arabia universities to ‘Islamise’ India. The outfit was banned on February 28, 2019, by the Government of India following the terror attack in Pulwama as it was suspected of funding the terror organisation Hizbul Mujahideen.
Pramod Raman, the Editor of MediaOne confirmed the news of the suspension in a statement that read: “The ministry has said the ban was due to security reasons, but the channel is yet to get the details on it. The Union Government has not made the details about the ban available to MediaOne TV. We have started legal action against the ban. After completing the process, the channel would be back to the audience. We are suspending the broadcasting temporarily with the hope that justice will prevail at last.”
മീഡിയവണിന്റെ സംപ്രേഷണം കേന്ദ്ര സർക്കാർ വീണ്ടും തടഞ്ഞു pic.twitter.com/92XbeRBa1a
— MediaOne TV (@MediaOneTVLive) January 31, 2022
Kerala HC temporarily defers I&B Ministry’s suspension order
According to reports, soon after the I&B ministry suspended the telecasting of MediaOne TV, the Kerala High Court on Monday temporarily deferred the order till the next date of hearing. The case will be heard next on Wednesday.
I&B Ministry suspends Asianet News and MediaOne for biased coverage of anti-Hindu Delhi riots
MediaOne TV has been blocked from broadcasting for the second time in recent years. The channel was previously banned for 48 hours by the Centre in 2020 for breaking the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1998 for its shoddy ‘coverage of the Delhi riot’.
The Ministry had alleged that MediaOne accused the Delhi Police of remaining inactive during the violence, and the channel also blamed police for vandalising shops and fruit carts.
Then, along with MediaOne TV, another Kerala based Malayalam News channel, namely Asianet News was also rewarded with a 48-hour token ban by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry for indulging in biased coverage of the Delhi riots, being critical of the RSS and Delhi police and siding with a particular community, showing those who supported Citizenship Amendment Act in poor light.
It alleged that the kind of provocative coverage the two news channels indulged in could further incite communal violence. This kind of loose reporting could have ‘incited violence and posed danger to the maintenance of law and order situation, particularly when the situation is already highly volatile and charged up and riots are taking place in the area’, the order had read.
