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The Supreme Court on Friday, while hearing a batch of pleas seeking steps to be taken against hate speech incidents, came down heavily on Television news channels. The apex court said television channels in India are creating divisions in the society since such channels are driven by agenda and compete to sensationalise news and act as per the dictates of their funders, LiveLaw reported.
The News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) and the Central government were questioned by the bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna on how to control such broadcasts.
Justice Joseph, in scathing observation, said: “Channels are basically competing with each other. They sensationalize it. How do you control this? Freedom of speech and expression is important. Problem with freedom is it is about the audience. Can the audience dish out or understand the agenda. Agenda is serving someone else. Then there is money behind the channel. The point also is who puts money, they will dictate.”
