Opinion poll ban will curb free expression: Broadcast Editors’ Association

NEW DELHI: Broadcasters are upset with the demand to ban opinion polls of elections. The Broadcast Editors’ Association ( BEA) on Monday said that the attempt to curb freedom of expression in any form was not in keeping with democratic values.

Speaking to TOI, BEA general secretary N K Singh said, “This is a move to curb the freedom of expression.” He questioned the timing of the move. Citing recent opinion polls that have predicted a poor showing by Congress at the hustings, Singh said, “How can one section of the political class decide this? There is increasing intolerance of criticism. They are always critical of the media…’’

He said in the United States there were opinion polls conducted regularly on wide-ranging issues, as well as during elections. “We are answerable to the people. If we are biased let the people decide on my credibility. Not the political class," he said.

India TV editor-in-chief Rajat Sharma added, “Banning opinion polls violates freedom of speech and expression as enshrined in Article 19(1)( a) of the Constitution. This is an assault on freedom of expression and the advice to the Election Commission appears to be politically motivated.”

Times Now CEO Sunil Lulla said that opinion polls were consumer opinion. “This is completely against the freedom of speech. Opinion polls are a mechanism to know what the consumer feels. It would be unconstitutional to ban it.”

Broadcasters say this is just one in a series of decisions by the ruling UPA government that was against the broadcast industry. Recently, the I&B ministry had issued an advisory to TV channels pulling them up for “artificially comparing” the Prime Minister’s speech on August 15 with Narendra Modi’s speech around the same time as the PM’s speech. The advisory said that it was a “highly objectionable” move to denigrate the image of the Prime Minister.

Sharma said that the advisory was surprising and completely contrary to what the I&B minister, the Prime Minister and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi had been saying publicly. “Advisories hamper free, fair and fearless reporting," he said. Lulla agreed adding that such advisories interfered in editorial freedom and were not good for media.