The government on Friday directed television rating agency BARC to immediately withhold reporting the Television Rating Points (TRPs) for TV news channels for a period of four weeks or until further orders.The directive has been issued as certain TV news channels are displaying “unwarranted sensationalism and speculative content” about the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict, which “may potentially create panic” among the general public, specially those having friends and family in the affected areas or residing in the conflict zones.According to the ‘Policy Guidelines for Television Rating Agencies in India’, issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on January 16, 2014 for television rating, Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) is a registered television rating agency.The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, in its directive, said that it has observed that, amidst the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict, certain news TV channels are displaying “unwarranted sensationalism and speculative content”, which “may potentially create panic” among the general public, specially those having friends and family in the affected areas or residing in the affected areas.The Clause 24.2 of the policy guidelines, prescribes that “The company shall be required to comply with any orders, regulations, guidelines, directions, etc., issued by the Ministry from time to time.“Therefore, in the public interest, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting hereby directs M/s BARC to immediately withhold reporting the Television Rating Points(TRPs) for news TV channels for a period of four weeks or until further directions, whichever is earlier,” the directive said.