“Criticism from a government is a badge of honour” for journalists, said Raj Kamal Jha, Chief Editor, Indian Express , at a recent event in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. That very day, the Government handed out a ‘badge of honour’ to NDTV India. The Hindi news channel has been asked to go off-air on November 9 for flouting coverage norms with regard to the terrorist attack on the Pathankot airbase in January this year and giving out “sensitive information”.

That the ban comes soon after NDTV, rather abjectly, dropped the interview of former home minister, P Chidambaram, on the recent Uri attacks, is all the more surprising. After all, to defend its action, NDTV had carried a screen statement all day, saying: “National security cannot be compromised by politics”.

As for the charge that NDTV gave out “sensitive information” such as the location of ammunition depots, this could have been referred to an independent panel presided over by a Supreme Court judge, rather than an inter-ministerial panel acting as judge, jury and executioner. Such arbitrary muzzling amounts to a violation of freedom of speech.

The irony is, the ban comes after the PM’s speech the previous day exhorting people not to forget the Emergency. There is arguably an unstated Emergency in the air. Those who speak against ‘the national interest’ and ‘development’ , defined in a particular way, are not spared.

It is, however, heartening to see the Editors’ Guild and Press Clubs speaking out. It is also true that elements in the Congress will squirm at being shown the mirror on their past.

Aditi Nigam Senior Deputy Editor

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