Self censorship on Star Plus

IN Media Watch Briefs | 27/10/2017

The Wire reports that  comedian Rangeela who recorded a mimicking of PM Modi for Star Plus's reality show  ‘The Great Indian Laughter Challenge’  has alleged that the channel  refused to air his act. He said that he got a phone call from the production team almost a month after the episode was originally recorded  asking him to shoot a new act because the channel had decided to not air it.  Two other scripts that he had submitted were rejected because they were on Modi, he said.                                     

Subscribe To The Newsletter
The new term for self censorship is voluntary censorship, as proposed by companies like Netflix and Hotstar. ET reports that streaming video service Amazon Prime is opposing a move by its peers to adopt a voluntary censorship code in anticipation of the Indian government coming up with its own rules. Amazon is resisting because it fears that it may alienate paying subscribers.                   

Clearly, the run to the 2019 elections is on. A journalist received a call from someone saying they were from Aajtak channel and were conducting a survey, asking whom she was going to vote for in 2019. On being told that her vote was secret, the caller assumed she wasn't going to vote for 'Modiji'. The caller, a woman, also didn't identify herself. A month or two earlier the same journalist received a call, this time from a man, asking if she was going to vote for the BSP.                 

View More