UP Assembly: TV channels under fire for careless reportage

The issue of “irresponsible” reporting by a TV news channel was raised in the UP Assembly on Thursday by some members.

The Speaker has asked the members to give notice for breach of privilege and ensured them that necessary action would be taken.

Samajwadi MLA Tej Narain Pandey said that a regional channel had been claiming that he had met Union minister Rajnath Singh, along with BJP MP from Faizabad Lallu Singh, and was planning to cross over to the BJP.

He said that the news was baseless and he had never met the Union home minister. He said that the report was designed to create confusion among the voters and sully his image.

A BJP MLA from Muzaffarnagar, Kapil Dev Agarwal, said that a national TV channel had recently “manufactured” a sting operation which claimed that he was involved in an “arms on rent” operation.

Commenting on the same report, parliamentary affairs minister Azam Khan said that in the same report, the TV channel had shown a man involved in the racket and had claimed that he was a SP MLA.

“Till today, I am trying to find our MLA, but have not found him. The man shown on TV was not a MLA, but the report said he was a legislator,” Mr Khan said.

Earlier, BSP MLA Ramvir Upadhyaya had raised the issue and said that some TV channels were questioning his loyalty to the BSP and claiming that he was ready to join the BJP. He said that he was distressed at the report which was a bundle of lies.

BJP Legislature Party leader Suresh Khanna said that the tendency of misreporting was gaining ground and action should be taken against the channels.