Shantaram goes TV bashing again

Shantaram goes TV bashing again
HERALD BUREAU
NEW DELHI, APRIL 30
Goa Congress MP Shantaram Naik, who had a tiff with the television news channels in December for defaming his State through repeated telecast of a Russian woman’s rape, launched yet another TV bashing diatribe in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
This time he wants the TV programme code that is prescribed under a 1995 law amended to ban telecast of a single news repeatedly days together on the ground that it causes “mental torture” to the viewers. Last time, he attracted ire of TV channels as also women activists for suggesting not to take seriously rape of a woman moving around freely with strangers.
In a special mention, he said Section 6 of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act prohibits programmes that offend against “good taste and decency” but this provision is not sufficient to curb the menace of torturous repetitive news items and hence his demand for amending the code suitably.
Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari advised Naik to change the channel if its news is torturing him but he shot back that it’s no solution as all channels compete in showing the same news again and again. Naik is also a practising lawyer and it would not be a surprise if he invokes the law of torts and takes the TV channels to court seeking damages for mental torture if the government does not take note of his demand.
He cited two examples of the torture he suffered. First was the news of the IPL controversy that broke out on the day of tornado that hit Bihar and West Bengal and killed 120 people. The tragedy hardly got any coverage while the IPL controversy was played up with same information repetitively for days together. Perhaps such tragedies carry no news value for the TV channels, he rued.
Naik said another example was a marriage controversy (sania mirza’s marriage with Pak cricketer Shoaib Malik) that was “food for thought” for these channels as for three days viewers were told that this is “the only thing happening in the country.”