Govt a ‘mute witness’ to hate speech problem, says SC, suggests Vishaka-like code for TV debates https://theprint.in/judiciary/govt-a-mute-witness-to-hate-speech-problem-says-sc-suggests-vishaka-like-code-for-tv-debates/1137477/ BHADRA SINHA
21 September, 2022
The Supreme Court Wednesday criticised the manner in which television channels conduct debates, observing that a methodology should be laid down for such discussions to ensure that they do not fuel hate speech. “If the anchor is going to take a lion’s share of the time of the debate, if the question of the anchor is so longish and time given to the person responding is short and even in that short period, all the time he is run down, made some kind of a rogue, is not fair. You have to be fair to everyone. It all has to be done fairly,” said Justice Joseph, emphasising that a system should be put in place so that there is “real freedom of the press” as well as that of the “listener” so that the latter does not go astray.
When counsel for the National Broadcasting Association (NBA) informed the bench that it had a system to penalise violators, the judges remarked: “But the problem still persists. You may have given 4,000 orders, but what is the effect of such orders?”
A bench of justices K.M. Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy also chastised the Centre for not being “proactive” in addressing the rising phenomenon of hate speech and instead treating it as a “trivial matter”.
The bench also indicated that, in the absence of a specific law, it might lay down guidelines — as was done in the Vishaka judgment that had devised a mechanism to deal with incidents of sexual harassment at the workplace — to define the contours of hate speech. The guidelines, it said, would put in place an institutional mechanism to tackle complaints of hate speech.
for the Judges comment on TV see https://www.emeets.lnwr.in/2968-sc-comments-on-tv-hate-speech
