NEW DELHI – Journalist Barkha Dutt on Thursday launched a stunning attack against the Centre’s Narendra Modi government alleging that certain broadcast is interrupting technically. Dutt said that there were attempts to launch a smear campaign to stop her from starting her new projects.
She wrote on her twitter account, “Most disturbing is how a certain broadcast can be “interrupted” technically.. every night. Who is doing it? That makes the license redundant. In any case GOI has not been clearing news channel licenses except for those who are it’s allies. That too is intimidation.”
https://twitter.com/BDUTT/status/1025040933920882689
Dutt, who had earlier voiced her opinions against NDTV’s policy on “axing stories”, railed against what she called “hypocrisy” — the channel opting to project an anti-establishment crusader image while seeking help from BJP leaders and ministers in private.
Dutt took potshots at NDTV managing editor Sreenivasan Jain for claiming the channel dropped his stories over legal concerns. She said the management had also dropped her articles in the past, but she didn’t create any outrage over it.
She further added that while every news organisation kills articles — some more than others — other groups don’t act “morally superior and smug and above everybody else” like NDTV did.
Dutt has reportedly been working on plans to launch a new TV channel. She implied that the centre, which has the authority to approve applications for new TV licence, had not approved her request. She added that the only files on news channels that moved under the current BJP government were of Republic TV, launched by Arnab Goswami. Goswami had launched Republic TV in partnership with the BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP, Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
Barkha Dutt is an Indian television journalist and author. She was part of NDTV’s team for 21 years, until she left the channel in January 2017. Barkha emerged as a prominent figure after her frontline war reporting on the Kargil Conflict between India & Pakistan in 1999. Dutt has won many national and international awards, including the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian honour.
