NEW DELHI: Television channels today came in for strong criticism from information and broadcasting minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi who told them to show restraint and not fan the ongoing caste violence in Rajasthan and other parts of the country.
In a meeting with heads of major broadcasters held at his instance, the minister said it was the duty of the media to play a responsible role in reporting events of the kind caused by the Gujjar demands.

The meeting comes in the wake of an announcement made by him on 3 May that he was put off by the repetitive showing of the same scenes by news channels and he was planning to meet them in June on this issue. Almost all the news channels were represented at the meeting.

Although the meeting had been fixed several days earlier, the ongoing situation created by the demand by the Gujjar community for status of a scheduled tribe in Rajasthan provided the minister with ample reason for talking to the channel heads.

The media should understand the sensitivity of the situation, the minister later told a news conference, pointing out that showing the same footage repeatedly only created more problems.

He also berated the media for being very selective while reporting, and only showing footage that caused sensationalism. ?I have myself seen that clashes that took place five days earlier were being shown throughout the day, but efforts for peace being made from both sides were hardly being given ten seconds on the channels, which is not fair.?

The minister claimed that during the meeting, some representatives of the TV channels accepted imbalances in the coverage of the situation in Rajasthan.

Dasmunsi said the government had no intention of interfering in the functioning of TV channels, and it was their duty to report if some violence breaks out anywhere. However, showing the same incident over and over again for weeks cannot be justified in the name of freedom of the media, he added.

In Rajasthan, all want peace. It is an issue that has raised nationwide reaction cutting across party lines. "All want peace to return to the state, and the media should be a partner in this effort. It should play the same positive role it had displayed during the Mumbai train blasts and Samjhauta Express blasts," he said.