In a series of orders released last week, the National Broadcasters and Digital Standards Association (NBDSA) condemned News 18 India its anchor Aman Chopra and Zee News for airing shows with communal “colour” and “undertones”. News channel Times Now was cautioned for airing unverified news.
“By starting the debate on the premise that 20% people were ganging up against Hindus constituting 80%, the anchor had given the debate a thrust, which is communal in nature and not appropriate,” the order delivered by NBDSA Chairperson Justice AK Sikri (Retd.) read. Justice Sikri’s order came on a complaint filed against News 18 show “desh nahi jhukne denge hum” aired on January 18, 2022 which was based on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s '80 vs 20’ statement.
BOOM highlights the key observations made by the self-regulatory body against each of the three channels.
Thrust of programs had religious undertones: NBDSA on News18 India
The NBDSA on February 27 censured News18 its anchor Aman Chopra and in one of the orders, said the show “desh nahi jhukne denge hum” had the “tendency to disturb communal harmony”.
On the Kheda incident where the police flogged Muslim men during the Navratri celebrations, NBDSA said the programme was “interspersed with statements made by the anchor” which “targeted, vilified and castigated the entire Muslim community for the actions of a few miscreants”.
“Further, the tickers which were aired during the impugned broadcast, raised rhetorical questions, thereby reinforcing the narrative created by the broadcaster and gave the impression that all Muslim men attended garba celebrations only with ulterior motives,” the order said.
“The thrust of the broadcast appeared to give the impression that the actions of the police were justified,” it added.
On CM Yogi Adityanath’s “80 vs 20” statement NBDSA noted that anchor Aman Chopra flagged off the show with a communally polarizing question: “Hinduon ke khilaf Uttar Pradesh me Mahagathbandhan tayyar ho raha hai, aur jab 80 vs. 20 ki baat ki thi Yogi Adityanath ne toh wo sahi thi?”.
“During the programme, the anchor had also crossed the threshold of impartiality by making certain statements during the programme…,” the order said further observing that while conducting a debate an anchor needs to be objective, impartial, and neutral.
The news channel was fined Rs 50,000, Rs 25,000, and Rs 20,000 in three of the five complaints.
NBDSA also directed the news channel to take down all the contentious videos by March 6.
Disproportionately focused on one religion for population growth: NBDSA on Zee News
NBDSA observed that Zee News disproportionately focused on one religion during a debate on population growth. The self-regulating body said the broadcast of the debate on the show “Taal Thok Ke: Kya Jansankhya Badhotari ke liye ek dharma ko zimmedar thehrana jayaz hai?” lacked “objectivity and neutrality as it disproportionately focused only on one religion/community as being solely responsible for the population growth”.
“By airing unrelated visuals of Muslim gatherings and by selectively sharing statistics about the Hindu-Muslim population, NBDSA observed that it was the broadcaster who had given the issue of population explosion a communal colour,” the order read.
In this regard, NBDSA observed that while it was permissible for the broadcaster to report the statistics available in the Pew Report which projected the Muslim population to be approximately 310 million by 2050. However, in order to ensure balance and neutrality in the programme, it would have been appropriate for the broadcaster to also report the complete statistics given in the said Report which showed that the growth in the Hindu population, would be approximately 1.3 billion by 2050, the order read.
Though NBDSA did not fine Zee News, it has cautioned the channel and has directed it to publicise this order every hour on its ticker for 24 hours on March 6.
Need to be more careful: NBDSA on Times Now
NBDSA cautioned Times Now for its reportage on ‘PFI's Protest Against Raids in Pune’ where it reported that ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogans were raised as opposed to ‘PFI Zindabad’.
NBDSA also noted that several fact-checking websites had fact-checked the said news report by stating that it was not “Pakistan Zindabad” but slogans of “PFI Zindabad” which were raised during the said protest.
Further, on perusing the impugned broadcast, NBDSA was of the view that there would have been no problem with the impugned broadcast, if the broadcaster had merely reported that slogans of “Pakistan Zindabad” were allegedly raised during the PFI protest and issued a disclaimer warning the viewers about the authenticity of the video as it had done in its subsequent broadcast aired on 25.9.2022.
Editors Note: We earlier said that Aman Chopra works for CNN News 18. Chopra works for the Hindi news channel News 18 India. The error is regretted.