The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, on Monday, issued an advisory to all television channels against reporting incidents of accidents, deaths, and violence, including violence against women, children and elderly, in a manner which grossly compromises on “good taste and decency.”
The advisory has been issued after several instances of lack of discretion by television channels were noticed by the Ministry.
The Ministry said that television channels had shown dead bodies of individuals and images and videos of injured persons with blood splattered around, people, including women, children and elderly being beaten mercilessly in close shots, with continuous cries and shrieks of a child being beaten by a teacher, repeatedly over several minutes.
The videos showed circling the actions thereby making it even more ghastly, without taking the precaution of blurring the images or showing them from long shots. The advisory said the manner of reporting such incidents is distasteful and distressing for the audience.
The advisory has highlighted the impact such reporting has on various audiences. Such reports can have an adverse psychological impact on children. There is also a crucial issue of invasion of privacy, and the clips being potentially maligning and defamatory, the advisory underlined.
Television, being a platform usually watched by families in households with people from all cohorts – the old, middle aged, small children, etc., and with various socio-economic backgrounds, places certain sense of responsibility and discipline among the broadcasters, which have been enshrined in the Programme Code and the Advertising Code.
The Ministry has observed that in most cases the videos are being taken from social media and broadcast without editorial discretion and modifications, ignoring compliance and consistency with the Programme Code.
The advisory has given a list of 12 examples of such recently broadcast content. On 30th December, 2022, distressing images and videos of a cricketer injured in an accident, without blurring, were shown.
On 28 August last disturbing footage of a man dragging the dead body of a victim and also focusing on the face of the victim with blood splattered around was shown.
On 6th July last, a distressing incident in which a teacher can be seen brutally thrashing a 5-year-old boy until he lost consciousness in a coaching classroom in Patna, Bihar, was shown.The clip was played without muting it in which painful cries of the child begging for mercy could be heard and was shown for over nine minutes.
On 4 June last, gory images of the dead body of a Punjabi singer without blurring were shown. On 25th May, 2022 an incident of a man brutally beating two minor boys with a stick in Chirang district of Assam was shown.
In the video, the man was seen mercilessly beating boys with sticks. The clip was played without blurring or muting in which the boys’ painful cries are clearly heard.
On 16th May, 2022, a woman advocate brutally assaulted by her neighbour in Bagalkot district of Karnataka, was shown continuously without edits.
Raising concern over such broadcasts, and in view of larger public interest involved, and having regard to the audience of the elderly, women and children, the Ministry has strongly advised all private television channels to attune their systems and practices of reporting incidents of crime, accidents and violence, including death in conformity with the Programme Code.