"Chief medium of hate speech." Here are the three key takeaways from the Supreme Court's observations on TV news and hate speech. Brut journalist Labanya explains.
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00:00The Supreme Court made oral observations during the course of a hearing,
00:03berating TV news by calling it the chief medium of hate speech.
00:08They were talking about television debates with multiple panellists,
00:12which often turned into shouting matches,
00:14where selective people either spoke too much or too little.
00:18Justices KM Joseph and Rishikesh Roy were hearing 11 petitions on regulating hate speech,
00:25when they sternly called the government a mute witness.
00:29These petitions questioned a show aired by Sudarshan News,
00:33speeches made at Dharam Sansad meetings, and also called for regulating social media.
00:38Here are three key takeaways from what the court said.
00:42We cannot give hate any air. Anchors of TV channels have an important duty to ensure
00:47that the guests invited on their show don't cross the line, the court said.
00:51Justice Joseph said that while freedom of speech is important,
00:55it doesn't give room for hate speech to be allowed on television.
00:59The role of the anchor, he said, is very critical,
01:03because the moment you see somebody going into hate speech,
01:06it is the duty of the anchor to immediately see that he doesn't allow that person to say anything
01:11further. He spoke about how a television channel was heavily fined for this in the UK.
01:17He also suggested that Indian channels be fined or even taken off air.
01:22Why is the government remaining a mute spectator?
01:25The court said that politicians benefit the most out of hate speech,
01:29for which TV channels give them a platform.
01:32Anchors might have their own views in line with the business interests of the channel,
01:36said Justice Joseph. But he added that their right is lesser than that of a listener.
01:42So, although freedom of press is important, the anchors need to know where to draw the line.
01:47The court also expressed its inability to take over powers of the legislature
01:51and form laws around this. They requested the central government to assist the court
01:56instead of taking an adversarial stand.
01:58Earlier in July, the Supreme Court had directed the Home Ministry to prepare a detailed chart
02:04outlining the measures taken by the states to curb hate speech.
02:07Only 14 out of 29 states responded.
02:11And since the central government hadn't filed its affidavit yet,
02:15the court asked if it thought this was a trivial matter.
02:18Killing someone. You can do it in multiple ways.
02:22Hate speech has a layered impact, said Justice Joseph.
02:26He said,
02:27Killing someone. You can do it in multiple ways.
02:30Slowly or otherwise.
02:32They keep us hooked using certain convictions.
02:36The judge said the media should tell the masses what others have said,
02:40not what they want to say.
02:41He added,
02:42Pillars of democracy are supposed to be independent and not take orders from anyone.
02:47These observations were made by the court during the oral arguments,
02:51and they are not the final judgement of the court.
02:54The case will be heard further on 23rd November 2022.