Excise policy: Delhi High Court issues notice to Republic, Times Now and others over reportage

Five news channels have been pulled up by the Delhi High Court for “misreporting” on the investigation into Delhi’s now-revoked excise policy.

According to Bar and Bench, the court yesterday issued notice to Republic TV, India Today, Zee News and Times Now, among others, and directed the News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority to “examine” their reports and “inform the court whether the broadcasts were compliant with their guidelines or not”.

The court passed the order while hearing a plea filed by Vijay Nair, who was arrested by the CBI in connection with the investigation in September. Nair is a businessman who is associated with the Aam Aadmi Party. The ED later arrested Nair and took over his custody.

Nair’s plea alleged that the central agencies had leaked information to the media. The court subsequently directed certain news channels to ensure their reporting was “in tune with official press releases” issued by the CBI and ED. As Bar and Bench reported, Justice Yashwant Varma also criticised the NBDSA’s counsel for saying it did not have power to restrain the channels.

“If self-regulation is a mere eyewash,” the judge said, “then why should we not disband you?”

The judge also looked at press releases issued by the CBI and said there was “simply no correlation between the news broadcast and the information provided by the agencies”.

The matter has been listed for hearing in February.

But what was the issue with the excise policy? Read this report in Newslaundry to find out how a channel reporting on the alleged scam has now become the story itself.