Coverage of Rishabh Pant car crash, some crime stories ‘distasteful’; strictly follow programme code: Govt to TV channels
New Delhi, Jan 9 (PTI) The government on Monday termed the television news coverage of cricketer Rishabh Pant’s road accident and some other crime stories “distasteful” and “heart wrenching” and asked them to strictly follow the programme code laid down under the relevant law.
In an advisory to all private satellite channels, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting cited the coverage of the cricketer’s car crash, airing of distressing images of dead bodies and thrashing of a five-year-old boy and said such reporting offended “good taste and decency”.
“…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,” read the advisory issued on Monday.
