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The real face of hate speech

Why banning two Malayalam channels does not help tackle the crisis in news broadcasting

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Vanita Kohli-Khandekar
Last Friday, the Ministry of In­formation and Broadcasting ba­nned Asianet News and Me­di­a­One for 48 hours. Their coverage of the recent Delhi riots allegedly violated the rule on “programming that causes so­cial disharmony” under Cable Te­levision Networks (Regulation) Act of 1995. The riots left over 50 dead and hundreds homeless. Asianet News and MediaOne questioned the Ministry’s decision. By Saturday, the ban was revoked.
 
This is symbolism at its worst. Delhi is in north India, where Hindi and English are among the most spoken languages. However two Malayalam channels with a negligible audience in Delhi are being hauled up
Disclaimer: These are personal views of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect the opinion of www.business-standard.com or the Business Standard newspaper

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