NEW DELHI: The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) has expressed deep concern over the show cause notice sent to three Indian news broadcasters by the Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry pertaining to their coverage of stories linked to Yakub Memon’s hanging.

This comes close on the heels of the statement put out by the Broadcasters Editors Association, wherein it expressed concern over the “apparent tendency among governments, both at the centre and in some states, to serve notices on media organisations in a selective manner.”

As was reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, the I&B Ministry had sent notices to three channels namely NDTV 24x7/NDTV India, Aaj Tak and ABP News relating to Memon’s execution coverage.

The NBA notes that the notice was for reportedly having aired phone-in interviews of underworld gangster Chhota Shakeel on two channels, which according to the I&B Ministry casts aspersions against the integrity of the President and the Judiciary; and can incite violence and lead to law and order problems. In light of this, NBA has urged the Ministry to withdraw the show cause notices issued and refer them to the News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) instead, which would consider it under its regulations.

In a statement, the NBA said, “The present Government has gone on record to state that it believes the media should be independent without any government interference and it should self regulate itself.”

Now it remains to be seen whether the Ministry hands the matter over to the NBSA to look into.