THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The CPM has criticized the Centre for blocking the broadcast of news channel Media One. The CPI (M) state secretariat said in a statement that the blocking of the channel's broadcast is reprehensible and that the new directive was part of the Centre's attempt to keep the media in check.

Meanwhile, the High Court stayed the order of the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for two days blocking the broadcast of Media One channel. The channel had approached the court against the central action. The interim order was issued by Justice N. Nagaresh. Media One editor Pramod Raman had said that the central action was taken without any warning.

The channel stopped broadcasting for five hours following the central action. The High Court sought an explanation from the Central Government on the channel's plea. However, the Central Government argued that the transmission was blocked for national security reasons and that the court should not interfere. The court issued the interim order after asking the Centre to duly inform the court of the reasons for their argument that there were sufficient grounds for blocking the transmission.