CNBC AWAAZ ban put on hold

A recommendation by the I&B ministry to ban the channel for showing liquor advertisements has been put on hold, reports Chetan Chauhan.

Updated on: Apr 14, 2007, 21:54:26 IST

None | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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I&B Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi has put on hold the recommendation of the inter-ministerial committee to ban India's leading business channel CNBC Awaaz allegedly for showing liquor advertisements, following the channel's request for a fresh hearing.

The inter-ministerial committee headed by an I&B ministry official had recommended that the channel should be banned for two days for airing liquor advertisements of brands like Martlac Whisky and Satu Retrus Wine. Showing of liquor advertisements on television is banned as per the programme code under Cable Television Network Act, 1995.

The advertisement was allegedly shown in November 2006, following which a showcause notice was issued to the channel. CNBC Awaaz, in its reply, had denied that advertisements were shown on the channel and claimed that the entire controversy has arisen due to a misunderstanding. Having procured a CD of the advertisements shown, the committee decided for a two-day ban on the channel.

However, the channel appealed before the minister Dasmunsi against the committee's verdict seeking to present it afresh. Considering the request, the minister has decided to put the committee's decision on hold for the time being. "The minister wants to give the channel a fair chance to present its case before taking the final decision," said an official at the minister's office. Munsi could not be contacted for his comments.

Had the CNBC Awaaz been banned it would have been the third channel to face the ministry's ire this year, although of less magnitude. Earlier, the government had banned AXN and FTV for a period of two months for showing content termed by I&B ministry as obscene.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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