Indian high court bolsters press censorship on TV, Internet
February 23, 2008, Senthil Tholkaapiyan and Senthooran Ravee, World Socialist Web Site
This article discusses the Indian High Court's role in pressuring the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I & B) to increase censorship through restrictions on investigative journalism. It concludes that High Court's concern about sting-journalism's threat to corrupt government systems and power elites has led it to play a major role in neo-liberal reform. The court intervened in response to a case of a sting operation against a teacher accused of blackmailing female students into prostitution. The case turned out to be staged but had serious consequences for the teacher involved and the local community. In light of the influence of electronic media, the court has proposed a committee to be appointed by the I & B-Ministry that should be in charge of granting permission to broadcast programmes involving sting operations after deeming them to be in public interests. The government is formulating a new media policy, which will include aspects such as piracy and digitalisation.