Camera Obscura

Karnataka assembly bans private TV crews, photographers

- Ajay Sukumaran

THE July session of the Karnataka legislative assembly got minute-by-minute TV coverage— local news channels were locked on the live-mode for most of the five days of proceedings. But the short assembly session convened by the new BJP government had the media seeing red—a day before the session commenced, they learnt of the Speaker’s directive barring private channel crews and photographers into the House. The press gallery was open to reporters as usual.

Karnataka was one of the few states where TV channels could cover assembly proceedings—elsewhere, even in Parliament, they have to subscribe to feeds from public broadcasters. The sudden move drew protests from journalists—it was only the assembly that barred TV crews and photographers while the legislative council was still open to them—and subsequently a boycott by news channels. Speaker Kageri maintained that the restriction was being tried out as a pilot during the three­day session. “When we are giving all the data and information to them without any filter, is there a problem?” he said. “For us, Parliament is the model. They are also suggesting that all states adopt a similar mechanism.”