#NDTVBanned: Mamata Banerjee calls ban ‘shocking’, ‘emergency-like attitude’

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has strongly condemned the day-long ban on NDTV India imposed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

New Delhi, Nov 4: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has strongly condemned the day-long ban on NDTV India imposed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting over its coverage on Pathankot terror attack on Thursday.

NDTV India, the Hindi news channel, is a part of the NDTV group, an Indian television media company, founded by veteran journalist Prannoy Roy and and his wife Radhika in 1988.

This is what the chief minister said on her official Twitter account:

Earlier, the Editors Guild, showing solidarity with NDTV India, criticised the government's move.

"The decision to take the channel off the air for a day is a direct violation of the freedom of the media and therefore the citizens of India and amounts to harsh censorship imposed by the government reminiscent of the Emergency," said the statement issued by the guild.

NDTV had also issued a statement on the ban imposed on its Hindi channel.

"The order of the MIB has been received. It is shocking that NDTV has been singled out in this manner. Every channel and newspaper had similar coverage. In fact NDTV's coverage was particularly balanced. After the dark days of the emergency when the press was fettered, it is extraordinary that NDTV is being proceeded against in this manner. NDTV is examining all options in this matter," reads the statement.

Earlier on Thursday, the Information and Broadcasting ministry's inter-ministerial committee has recommended that news channel NDTV India be taken off air for 24 hours for allegedly revealing "strategically-sensitive information" during the course of its coverage of the anti-terror operations at the Pathankot airbase earlier this year.

The first-of-its-kind order has imposed a blackout prohibiting "the transmission or re-transmission of NDTV India channel for one day on any platform throughout India with effect from 00:01 hrs on 9th November to 00:01 hrs of 10th November".

OneIndia News