The propaganda channel has been known to glorify Islamists worldwide and have taken an anti-India stand on many issues, including the Delhi Anti-Hindu riots and abrogation of Article 370.
The Union government declined to renew the broadcasting licence of the Malayalam propaganda channel Media One on Monday (January 31). In an order issued on Monday (January 31), the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting said that the Union Home Ministry has declined to give the security clearance to the channel, which is mandatory for the licence.
“The Ministry of Home Affairs has denied the security clearance to M/S. Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited for renewal of permission for uplinking and downlinking of News & Current Affairs TV channel “Media One”,” the order read.
The previous licence of the company expired on September 29 last year, and it had applied for renewal on March 3 last year.
After the Ministry of Home Affairs submitted an adverse report, the I&B Ministry had issued a Show Cause Notice (SCN) to Media One, asking why their licence should not be revoked. Finding the reply unsatisfactory, the action was initiated against Media One.
“The permission granted to M/S. Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited to uplink and downlink a News and Current Affairs TV Channel, namely ‘Media One’, is revoked with immediate effect and accordingly the name of this channel is removed from the list of permitted channels,” the ministry order read.
Lakshadweep-based actor Aisha Sultana is facing a sedition charge for calling Lakshadweep administrator Praful Patel ‘a bioweapon’ in a TV debate on Media One channel. Later, in a Facebook post, she even justified her comment.
“I had used the word bio-weapon in the TV channel debate. I have felt Patel as well as his policies [have acted] as a bio-weapon. It was through Patel and his entourage that Covid-19 spread in Lakshadweep. I have compared Patel as a bioweapon, not the government or the country…. You should understand. What else should I call him…,” Sultana had written in the Facebook post.
In February last year, a complaint was lodged with the Delhi police against Media One for ‘exhorting and glorifying violence, including acts of extremist organisations in which they made attempts to destabilise and overthrow the democratically elected Central Government.’
The complainant had pointed out that Media One had actively facilitated the actions of sedition and waging war against the Nation by continuously giving false news and exhorting, encouraging and glorifying it.
The Jamaat-e-Islami moved Kerala High Court against the government order.
