NEW DELHI: Indias national broadcaster Prasar Bharati threatened to pull the plug on its subscription of the country's biggest news agency, Press Trust of India (PTI), on Saturday apparently on grounds that recent reportage by the trustrun agency on China was “antinational”. In a letter to the PTI board on Saturday, Prasar Bharati is understood to have said the agency's coverage of the China issue was “detrimental to national interest” and even “undermined Indias territorial integrity”.
In its reaction, PTI in an official statement said, “We have received a letter from the Prasar Bharati this afternoon. We are examining it and will respond in due course with the facts." Sources said the Prasar Bharati letter pointed to “editorial lapses” and alleged that the news agency had behaved in a manner that was “contrary to the values” that Prasar Bharati was mandated to uphold. As a result, the broadcaster said it would no longer be “tenable to continue the relationship” with PTI. The immediate flash point seems to have been an interview of the Chinese ambassador to India and issues regarding an interview with the Indian ambassador in Beijing.
The public broadcaster also claimed it supported the news agency by paying a “huge” annual fee running into several Read More – Source
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