Earlier on Monday evening, Venkaiah Naidu defended the one-day ban imposed on NDTV India for allegedly airing sensitive content while the anti-terror operation was on in January. Among the things he said in his defence of the blackout on November 9 was:
But soon afterwards a journalist tweeted:
After the meeting there was an announcement that the one-day blackout was on hold for now.
The only reason given for the sudden turnaround was that the channel had filed an appeal. The government had earlier maintained that the channel’s coverage had been against national interest.
The Information and Broadcasting Minister tweeted:
Another official explained what had taken place at the meeting:
NDTV had challenged the day-long blackout in the Supreme Court and the plea was to be heard by the apex court on Tuesday. There was also a protest at the Press Club of India by journalists against the blackout.
Given it’s sudden turnaround on the issue, it was little surprise that the government was trolled relentlessly on the issue and many congratulated the channel:
And some felt there was more to do: