HVK Archives: DD blacks out news
DD blacks out news - Afternoon
Jagpreet Luthra
()
15 June 1996
Title : DD BLACKS OUT NEWS TONIGHT
Author : Jagpreet Luthra
Publication : Afternoon
Date : June 15, 1996
BJP spokesman K. L. Sharma has condemned Doordarshan's
blacking out of Prannoy Roy's The News Tonight telecast
on Friday night, apparently because it had an interview
with the expelled J. D. leader R. K. Hegde in which he
made unsavoury remarks about Prime Minister H. D. Deve
Gowda.
"This kind of censorship will be disastrous for the
United Front government; if it has any faith in
democracy, it has to display more tolerance of criticism.
Mr. Sharma said. The functioning of the UF government,he
added, would come under review by his party at its
national executive meeting at Bhopal on June 21. Mr.
Sharma urged the government to desist from such acts in
the future.
UF sources were not available for comment but the
blacking out of the Tonight telecast is reported to have
been done on I & B minister C. M. Ibrahim's orders. It
was on his report that Mr. Hegde was expelled from the
party, a move that could turn out to be very costly for
the fledgling UF government.
Mr. Ibrahim is learnt to be very close to the prime
minister.
DD's official reason for not carrying the news telecast,
produced by Prannoy Roy's NDTV, was the "non arrival of
the tape." An announcement to this effect was made
instead of the telecast last night.
Sources in the NDTV deny that there was any delay in
sending the tape to DD. The tape quoted Mr. Hegde as
saying that Mr. Deve Gowda went "door to door" to seek
permission for his expulsion while Orissa JD leader Biju
Patnaik, who is close to the expelled leader, confirmed
that the prime minister had come to him on this matter.
Mr. Hegde's supporter, the recently inducted chief
minister of Karnataka, who replaced Mr. Deve Gowda, said
in the interview that the expulsion of Mr. Hegde would be
disastrous for the party and the UF government.
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