Bengal withdraws from AIR, TV panels

Summary

This Times of India News Service report describes the West Bengal government’s decision to withdraw its nominees from advisory committees associated with All India Radio and Doordarshan. State Information Minister Mr. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya said the decision reflected the government’s objection to the way local news was being presented and to what it regarded as distortion and selective blackout of important events by the broadcasting agencies.

Key points

• The West Bengal government withdrew its nominees from advisory committees connected with All India Radio and Doordarshan.
• Information Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya said the government representative on the All India Radio advisory committee served no useful purpose.
• The decision also concerned the inter-media publicity coordination committee of Doordarshan.
• Bhattacharya accused the broadcasting agencies of distorting events and blacking out important functions.
• A national seminar organised by the Students Federation of India was cited as an example of an important event that received inadequate coverage.
• The report says the state government believed media reporting of events in West Bengal contained a considerable element of distortion.
• The government planned to reconsider its participation in national-level programmes involving the Centre and the states.