New Delhi: With television coverage of Mumbai terror attacks not going down well with the government, it plans to tighten laws governing cable television broadcast, for which it is planning to introduce changes in Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995.

In the backdrop of a private television channel getting a notice from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry last week for telecasting a conversation with a couple of terrorists involved in the attack, ministry officials today held a series of long meetings chaired by I and B Secretary Sushma Singh to discuss the pros and cons of amending the Cable TV Act in order to bring private television channel coverage under stricter supervision.

The ministry is planning to do this through a cabinet note, which could be sent to finance and law ministries later this week for their views, a source said.

The meetings continued till late in the evening. While ministry officials refused to comment on the deliberations, sources close to the development said ways to ensure better monitoring of private news channels were learnt to have been discussed.

Officials were also learnt to have deliberated upon steps to bring private television channel broadcast in line with the ministry s content code.

The ministry last week had issued a notice to the private TV channel, which had broadcast a conversation with two terrorists during the terror operation in Mumbai. The ministry's contention was that by doing so the channel had given terrorists a platform to air their views.
Source : PTI