HC stays ban on MediaOne news channel

Pramod Raman, the Editor of MediaOne, said the channel was taking legal steps for the restoration of the channel

The Kerala High Court on Monday issued an interim stay on an order of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting revoking the licence of Malayalam news channel MediaOne.

The court sought a report from the centre and the case will be considered on Wednesday. The licence of the channel was revoked by the ministry citing that the union home ministry did not give clearance.

Kozhikode headquartered MediaOne channel is run by Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited. It is backed by the Jamaat-e-Islami, Kerala. In March 2020 as well MediaOne, and another Malayalam news channel, were prohibited by the centre for 48 hours for alledgedly hurting communal sentiments while reporting the recent North-East Delhi violence.

According to the I&B Ministry's order on Monday, the home ministry denied security clearance to Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited for renewal of permission for uplinking and downlinking of news and current affairs TV channel MediaOne. Hence the permission granted to the channel was revoked.

The decision of the centre triggered a strong protest in Kerala with leaders of the ruling CPM and the opposition Congress flaying it and demanded the centre to revoke the decision.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that there should be space for all sections to express their view in society. Attempts to forcefully silence is undesirable in democracy. If there were any issues with the channel, it should be examined and steps taken to resolve it instead of imposing a ban without stating the reasons, Vijayan said in a statement.

Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said that democracy was being curtailed in the country and the continuous infringement on freedom of the press was an instance.

MediaOne editor Pramod Raman said in a statement that the details for denying security clearance were not yet given by the centre.

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