The matter pertains to the coverage of the Pathankot terror attack by the channel where the committee felt that “such crucial information” could have been readily picked by terrorist handlers and had the potential to “cause massive harm not only to the national security, but also to lives of civilians and defence personnel.”

When the operation was on in January this year, it allegedly revealed information on the ammunition stockpiled in the airbase, MIGs, fighter-planes, rocket-launchers, mortars, helicopters, fuel-tanks etc “which was likely to be used by the terrorists or their handlers to cause massive harm, the sources said. Rallying behind the news channel, the Editors Guild of India, the Broadcast Editors Association (BEA), the News Broadcasters Association (NBA), the Indian Journalists Union (IJU) and the All India Newspaper Editors Conference (AINEC) all condemned the government decision that came after the recommendation of an inter-ministerial panel instituted by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. Comparing this to media censorship during the Emergency, the Guild accused the government of trying to “intervene in the functioning of the media.”

“The decision to take the channel off the air for a day is a direct violation of the freedom of the media and therefore the citizens of India and amounts to harsh censorship imposed by the government reminiscent of the Emergency.
The Editors Guild of India protests the Indian Government's order to shut down Hindi news channel NDTV India for 24 hours alleging the channel's coverage of January’s deadly attack on Pathankot air base revealed sensitive military secrets. NDTV denies the charges, and says it will challenge this unprecedented order.