Delhi HC slams news channels asking not display defamatory content against Bollywood

Delhi, November 09: Hearing a plea filed by movie producers against derogatory reporting by certain media houses, the Delhi High Court on Monday slammed these channels for showing less news and 'more opinion' and asked to ensure that no defamatory content is broadcast against Bollywood or any of its members.

 

 

 

High Court judge Justice Rajiv Shakdher issued notice to all parties, giving them two weeks to file their replies. Meanwhile, the Court has directed the TV channels to follow the Programme Code and give "serious consideration" to the resolution of the matter at hand.

 

He also asked the news channels to follow the Programme Code provided under the Cable Television Networks Rules. "We expect fair reportage.. sadly, it is happening all over the world, not just in India," the judge remarks saying that the court hesitated in restraining media reports as it was a constitutional right.

 

 

 

 

Citing the example of Princess Diana's case who died in a car crash in 1997 while being chased by the paparazzi in France, the court said, "Surely, these are people who are public personalities so that element of privacy to an extent gets diluted… but please see what happened when the media chased someone like (Princess) Diana. You cannot go on like this. Courts are the last ones who want to interfere…. but what is happening here… is that you do not want to follow the code?”

 

The court also addressed the kind of language used on TV news channels. "Now I am hearing that participants in TV debates are using cuss words because they get so excited. If you keep egging them on, that is what happens”.

 

“If you do not follow self-regulation then what is to be done in a matter like this. You are not following your undertaking to the court. It’s a little disheartening and demoralises everyone,” the High Court said.

 

The counsel for the media houses gave assurance to the court that they will follow the program code. The lawsuit by four Bollywood industry associations and 34 leading producers, has also sought to restrain them from interfering with the right to privacy of persons associated with the industry.

 

According to the petition, the suit was filed due to the channels using derogatory words for Bollywood such as “dirt”, “filth”, “scum”, “druggies” and expressions such as “it is Bollywood where the dirt needs to be cleaned”, “all the perfumes of Arabia cannot take away the stench and the stink of this filth and scum of the underbelly of Bollywood”, “this is the dirtiest industry in the country”, and “cocaine and LSD drenched Bollywood”.

 

The court has also asked the defendants to ensure that no defamatory content is displayed on their channels or uploaded on their social media handles.