The Karnataka HC directed local TV channels and Electronic media platform to pass any COVID-19 related information carefully and diligently. The Division Bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice BV Nagarathna opined:
“The media must ensure that no part of the stand taken by the State Government or no part of the orders passed by this Court should be misinterpreted or misquoted. The electronic media must note that if there is no accurate reporting of the proceedings before the Court, the stand of the State Government and other agencies before the Court and the orders passed by this Court, it may create confusion amongst the citizens and may spread panic. The cause of confusion and panic can be misrepresentation of the orders of this Court by the media.”
The issue came up when a part of state’s submission in previous hearing of HC was misinterpreted. The state had submitted about the kind of infrastructure that would be required for dealing with 10,000 COVID-19 patients.
But the local media channels misconstrued this submission and reported that the state expects 10,000 more COVID-19 cases in Karnataka by the end of April.
The Court stated,
“We clarify that what is stated in the written submissions which is recorded in paragraph 20 of the order dated 9th April, 2020 does not mean that according to the State Government, the number of COVID-19 positive cases will rise to 10,000 by the end of April, 2020.”
Karnataka HC
