Delhi govt directs officials to monitor news channel content

Days after accusing the media of being part of a “conspiracy to finish off AAP”, the Delhi government has decided to keep a close tab on all news channels asking its officials to monitor the content broadcast by them.

Days after accusing the media of being part of a “conspiracy to finish off AAP”, the Delhi government has decided to keep a close tab on all news channels asking its officials to monitor the content broadcast by them.

An order in this regard has been issued to officials of Directorate of Information and Publicity (DIP) to monitor the news channels from 9 AM to 11 PM.

This is being done for the first time by the Delhi government.

DIP officials till now used to keep records of newspapers cuttings related to the government.

“DIP officials have been asked to start monitoring the content of news channels related to the government and send a daily report on these contents broadcast by them to Chief Minister’s Office (CMO),” said a senior government official.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had in a recent interview to a news portal said, “A very large section of the media has accepted ‘supari’ for finishing off AAP... There can be a public trial. There can be 8-10 spots in Delhi where we can collect a group of people and show the erroneous clips. That way we can start a ‘janta ka trial’.”

“DIP officials have been directed to monitor the content of new channels from 9 AM to 11 PM. Officals have been asked to do this work for at least one month and thereafter, government will float tenders to hire designated staff to keep close tab on all the new channels “ sources said.

The Delhi chief minister on Tuesday said that a section of the media was running a persistent campaign to “defame” AAP after it got an overwhelming mandate in the Delhi Assembly polls and that henceforth, AAP will maintain silence on issues other than those relating to government.

Meanwhile, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, at a programme held on Tuesday, also said that the entire media needs to go for ‘vipassana’ when he was asked by the reporters about former Delhi Dialogue Commission (DDC) member-secretary Ashish Joshi’s comment that “there is an urgent requirement of ‘vipassana’ and ‘anapana’ training by one and all in Delhi government.”