News Broadcasting
Court seeks guidelines on stings, status of Broadcast Bill
NEW DELHI: Pointing out that it was the responsibility of the Government to act if any television channel concocted a sting operation, the Delhi High Court today sought to know the provisions drawn up in this regard.
The Court also wanted to know the status of the Broadcasting Bill, on which discussions had been going on for some time. The ministry was asked to file its reply by 17 September.
Hearing a public interest litigation by social worker Rahul Verma seeking to regulate sting operations by TV channels, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice M K Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Khanna noted: “There have been discussions regarding the bill. The Minister (for Information and Broadcasting) has said that the government is bringing the bill. What has come out so far?”
Referring to the recent report of the fake sting operation by Live India channel, the court said: “If the sting is concocted, it is your responsibility to take action. Some kind of restriction has to be there. It is not about an individual case but about broader policy.”
The court made a reference to the “sting operation” purportedly showing government schoolteacher Uma Khurana as running a prostitution racket, though the police found it to be a fake report.
The telecast of the sting by Live India last month triggered mob violence in and around the school in central Delhi where Khurana taught mathematics. She was soon arrested and sacked from the job. However, Khurana was released on bail earlier this week as no evidence was found against her.
The Centre today informed the Court that the I&B ministry had issued a show cause notice yesterday to ‘Live India’ channel to respond within three days as to why action against it should not be taken for irresponsible reporting in the fake sting operation involving the school teacher. Not satisfied by that reply, the Court asked, ”Under which provision of the law you have issued the show cause notice. If offence is committed, you have to register a case and start criminal proceedings.”
The Court had in fact taken suo motu notice of the case on 7 September and had issued notice to the Government and the Police. Interestingly, the police has in its reply told the court that it has not given a clean chit to the teacher. The police had arrested reporter Prakash Singh and his associate Rashmi Singh after booking him under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including those relating to cheating and criminal conspiracy.
The fake sting reports have come at a time when broadcasters are opposing the ministry’s proposal in the bill to bring in a Content Code to regulate news and current affairs content.
News Broadcasting
News TV viewership jumps 33 per cent as West Asia war draws audiences
BARC Week 8 data shows news share rising to 8 per cent despite T20 World Cup
NEW DELHI:Â Even as individual television news channel ratings remain under a temporary pause, the genre itself is seeing a clear surge in audience attention.
According to the latest data from Broadcast Audience Research Council India, television news recorded a 33 per cent jump in genre share in Week 8 of 2026, covering February 28 to March 6.
The news genre accounted for 8 per cent of total television viewership during the week, up from 6 per cent the previous week. The spike in attention coincided with escalating geopolitical tensions involving the United States, Israel and Iran, which have kept global headlines firmly fixed on West Asia.
The rise is notable because it came at a time when cricket was dominating television screens. The high-stakes stages of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, including the Super 8 fixtures and semi-finals, were being broadcast during the same period.
Despite the cricket frenzy, viewers appeared to be toggling between sport and global affairs, boosting the overall share of news programming.
The surge in genre share comes even as the government has enforced a one-month pause on publishing ratings for individual news channels. The move followed regulatory scrutiny of the television ratings ecosystem.
While channel-level rankings remain temporarily out of sight, the genre-level data suggests that when global tensions escalate, audiences continue to turn to television news for real-time updates.
