It had issued a decree sacking the Bihar state government for its failure to stem the slaughter of low-caste labourers by private armies of landowners, and imposed direct rule from Delhi.
On the day the decree was published, state-run newspaper al-Ahram said that an internal report by a commission monitoring the performance of state-run radio and TV described the state TV stations' coverage as "non-professional", "confused", and "lost" as they waited for directives on how to cover the news.