Bengaluru: Legislative Assembly Speaker K B Koliwad on Wednesday announced the formation of the House Committee to draw Lakshman Rekha for the electronic media and thereby preventing them from sensationalising trivial family disputes, crime, and ghost stories for increasing TRP (television rating point).
This decision was taken after members in both Houses, cutting across party lines, came down heavily on irresponsible reporting by the media, particularly 24×7 news channels.
Koliwad said terms and conditions of the House Committee would be framed, keeping in mind media freedom guaranteed under the Constitution, for restricting media from telecasting news arbitrarily.
In the Assembly, KJP MLA B R Patil initiated the debate on irresponsible and character assassination reporting by 24×7 channels, and said the channels have been performing three roles of petitioner, advocate and judge, and delivering judgment on politicians.
Raju Kage, Suresh Gowda (both BJP), P.M. Narendraswamy, Shivaraj Tangadagi (Congress), Sa Ra Mahesh (JD-S) and others joined in and condemned the twisting of facts and reporting false news. S.T. Somashekar, B.A. Moinuddin Bava, Srinivas Hebbar (Congress) narrated how they have been harassed and hounded by the media.