DhiFM suspends taking phone calls on Morning Edition program

The Morning Edition program broadcasted live on DhiFM, has decided to temporarily suspend taking phone calls from the public, with effect from today.

CEO of DhiFMMasoodHilmy said today that this was decided following an order from the Maldives Broadcasting Commission, and that the decision whether to include this part in the program in the future will be taken after discussions within the Management.

He further said that the suspension of this part of the program is not a step backwards in terms of independent media, and that it is still too early to indicate whether this part will be included in the program in the future.

“The public phone calls segment is a very popular part of the Morning Edition. A case can be created by a group who does not like this segment, by paying someone to use vulgar language on the show, right? That’s how it is, there are many other stations who include callers segments in their shows,” Masood said.

Maldives Broadcating Commission requested yesterday to end the Morning Edition program, if the use of vulgar language cannot be stopped on this program.

A report was published on the Commission’s website following investigations into the use of vulgar language on 29 December 2011 by a participant of the Program. The Morning Show is organised around the public expressing their opinions regarding various political issues.

The report says that the use of such language has been observed on three separate occasions in this program, and asked for the immediate discontinuation of the program if the broadcasting of such stories, which are disruptive to the society, cannot be stopped.