Recently, Tamil Nadu government filed a case against the Tamil news channel “Pudhiya Thalaimurai” for allegedly promoting enmity in one of its programs.
Considering the circumstances of the case, this is nothing short of a direct attack on press freedom and democratic right to an opinion.
What is the case about?
“Pudhiya Thalaimurai” (PT) had organised a ‘discussion forum’ on the continuing protracted protests in Tamil Nadu in the recent past.
Subsequently, Tamil Nadu government slapped a case against the channel under for “promoting enmity between groups”.
The cause for the action was certain remarks made by a couple of the TV channel’s guests who had participated in the aforementioned program.
Although it was some sections of the audience that was disruptive, FIRs were filed against two participants – whose remarks were clear not inflammatory.
Notably, the FIR also included in its ambit, the program’s anchor and the management of PT channel.
More shockingly, the FIR was filed even before the roundtable discussion on the role of protests was aired.
A sensitive issue like the current string of protests is bound to invoke polarising views, but the crackdown on voicing opinions is an extremely bad precedent.
Is the TN government acting in a vindictive fashion?
The state government-owned “Arasu Cable TV” network services about 1 crore households in Tamil Nadu and is a major TV broadcaster.
In a clearly targeted and vindictive action, PT was suddenly pushed from the 124th to the 499th slot on the “Arasu Network”.
In some regions, the channel was also removed from the Tamil cluster of channels and regrouped with those in other languages.
For subscribers who are linked to Arasu via analogue, the channel has become simply unavailable in many areas.
Significantly, a couple of other channels too were subjected to such actions in the past, thereby establishing a clear trend.
How does the future look?
There have been apprehensions that the State government is using its domination of the distribution space to crack down on news channels.
The severity of crack down on PT has led many to believe that it is clearly intended to send out a larger message to all media houses.
