New Delhi, April 2 (IANS) The government directed the withholding of Television Rating Points (TRPs) for TV news channels during Operation Sindoor to curb speculative and sensational coverage, which triggers panic among people in such situations, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L. Murugan told the Parliament on Thursday.

“Some TV news channels were observed to be broadcasting unwarranted, sensational, and speculative content during Operation Sindoor. Such behaviour by TV channels has been observed during periods of conflict or crisis. It also has the potential to create panic among the public, especially those having friends and family in the affected areas,” the minister said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.

“Accordingly, as a precautionary measure, the government directed the withholding of reporting of the Television Rating Points (TRPs) for TV news channels for a period of four weeks. These directions were widely accepted by all stakeholders, and no objections against it have been received so far,” he added.

Following the initiation of “Operation Sindoor” on May 7, 2025, a military action launched by India in response to the killing of 26 tourists in Pahalgam, multiple Indian television news channels were accused of widespread misreporting, sensationalism, and spreading misinformation.

In the mad race to boost TRP ratings, some TV channels were flashing AI-generated videos and video game clips and passing them off as attacks being carried out by the armed forces. The fierce competition for TRP ratings triggered a “report first and verify later” approach among some journalists.

A prominent Hindi channel aired old, unrelated video clips, including videos from the Israeli Iron Dome system and airstrikes in Gaza, and presented them as live visuals of Indian missile strikes on Jaish-e-Mohammed terror bases in Pakistan.

Another channel passed off old video footage of intensive Israeli aerial attacks on Lebanon as Pakistani missiles raining on Punjab cities such as Jalandhar during Operation Sindoor.

The Press Information Bureau (PIB) debunked several of these false narratives.

Some of these channels even had to apologise for these embarrassing blunders in broadcasting such misleading news.

–IANS

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