Citing Rishabh Pant car crash, govt issues advisory to TV channels over 'disturbing' visuals

New Delhi, January 9

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The Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting today issued an advisory to all television channels against reporting incidents of accident, death and violence in a manner that grossly compromised on “good taste and decency”.

Follow code of ethics

• I&B Ministry says videos lifted from social media being shown without editorial discretion
• Asks broadcasters to display responsibility and discipline as enshrined in Programme Code
• Calls for ‘blurring’ of visuals showing blood, violence, death

In the advisory, the ministry mentioned several instances of “lack of discretion” by television channels. It said in most cases, videos were being lifted from social media and broadcast without editorial discretion. The ministry cited the road accident of Rishabh Pant in which “distressing images and videos of the injured cricketer were shown without blurring”. It also mentioned the “disturbing” footage of a man dragging the body of a victim with blood on the face and around. It said another “distressing” incident was the one showing a Patna teacher brutally thrashing a five-year-old boy until the child lost consciousness at a coaching classroom.

It also flagged videos being repeatedly shown over several minutes, including by circling the actions and thereby making these even more ghastly, without taking the precaution of blurring images or showing these from long shots. Another crucial issue concerned invasion of privacy, which could be “potentially maligning and defamatory”, the advisory said.