National broadcaster Prasar Bharati wasn’t asked to cover the swearing-in event of Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar as the chief minister and deputy chief minister of Maharashtra respectively on Saturday, 23 November, according to The Economic Times (ET).
It is mandatory for Prasar Bharati to broadcast swearing-in events as part of its programming guidelines.
The duo was sworn in by Governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari at around 7:50 am on Saturday and the news was broken by news agency ANI at around 8:00 am. ANI was present at the swearing-in ceremony.
Press Bureau officials stated that DD news — the channel responsible for covering events— was not even informed about the event.
Neither DD's Mumbai news unit was notified about the event nor the Mumbai Doordarshan Kendra. All India Radio was informed at the last minute as the correspondent in Mumbai was in touch with Fadnavis' office, ET reported.
Prasar Bharati's programme guidelines mandate Doordarshan and AIR to cover 12 types of events live.
These include ceremonies such as Independence Day, Republic Day, cabinet swearing-in, oath-taking ceremonies of the CHI, the President's address at the national level and state cabinet swearing-in, oath-taking events of governors and chief justices of High courts, joint sessions of state legislatures addressed by governors, relief visits by CMs at the state level.
On Saturday, a DD News broadcast at 8:06 am used ANI visuals, while AIR's bulletin had the main news which, however, said “details awaited.”
A DD News correspondent called the event, “a shocker that no one was aware of.”
An official, on the condition of anonymity, told ET, “Ideally, given the event’s importance, it should have been live telecast by Doordarshan with a multi-camera setup, and also covered by AIR with bilingual commentary. But since everything happened so hurriedly, it is possible that there was no time to inform us and wait till arrangements.”
(With inputs from The Economic Times)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)