Chandigarh, October 20
A “concerted” effort by the Shiromani Akali Dal leadership, quoting propriety and ethics, succeeded in prevailing upon the management of Doordarshan to stop a repeat telecast of the debate in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha on the roots and causes of terrorism.
Advertisements carrying a Doordarshan logo had appeared in all leading newspapers this morning to announce a repeat select telecast of the Vidhan Sabha debate today and again on Saturday.
The Shiromani Akali Dal sent a strong protest letter to the Director of the Jalandhar Kendra of Doordarshan threatening to take legal action for professional misconduct, public impropriety and taking sides.
Sources said the Doordarshan authorities were initially adamant on going ahead with the telecast, maintaining that the Punjab Government was sponsoring the telecast by buying time. They also denied having inserted any advertisement in the newspapers. “When we confronted them pointing out that the Doordarshan logo was used in the advertisement and the Jalandhar Kendra
was specifically mentioned, they expressed ignorance,” said a spokesman of the Dal.“We also threatened to raise the issue before the masses whose interests are certain to be adversely affected by a careless media projection of vital issues of the state,” wrote Mr Daljit Singh Cheema, press secretary of the Dal, in the letter to the Director of the Jalandhar Kendra.
The Akalis also held that the live telecast was not fair as six cameras were placed behind the Opposition benches while only two were facing them. On the other hand, six cameras faced the Treasury Benches and only two were behind them.
Further, they held that the purpose of having a select telecast of one hour of the 189-minute debate was unfair and unethical.
Further, the Akalis held that the advertisement did not mention the source.
The Dal leadership also threatened to raise the matter in Parliament. At one stage, the sources revealed, Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal, MP, spoke to the Director of the Jalandhar Kendra.
He reportedly said that even if the Punjab Government had bought a spot and Doordarshan had nothing to do with either the advertisement or the repeat telecast, why was the programme (software) of Doordarshan being allowed to be “misused”. The Dal leader maintained that the Punjab Government had neither a video recording nor was it supposed to use Doordarshan software for a repeat telecast.
He also asked why the repeat telecast was for only an hour and not all 189 minutes of the debate.
The Dal sources revealed that there was no repeat telecast at 6 p.m. today.
