Mumbai : The News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA) has ruled that certain programs broadcast by News18 India and Zee News violated the Code of Ethics and Broadcasting Standards and Specific Guidelines. The news channels' videos have been ordered to be removed from online platforms.
Concerning a News18 India news debate on 18 January 2022, the NBDSA observed that the program's thrust had religious undertones.
“By starting the debate on the premise that 20 per cent people were ganging up against Hindus constituting 80 per cent, the anchor had given the debate a thrust, which is communal in nature and not appropriate,” it said.
The order, which imposed a fine of Rs 50,000, stated: “No doubt, even those elements belonging to minorities who give inflammatory speeches against the people of other religions/majority, have to be condemned. If the debate had been confined with such an objective in mind, probably there would have not been any problem with the same. However, utterances of few such individuals belonging to a particular community should not lead to communal divide.”
Concerning a "Desh Nahi Jhukne Denge with Aman Chopra live" show related to the murder of Praveen Nettaru, the NBDSA stated that “during the debate the anchor instead of blaming a few miscreants for the murders and violence in fact blamed the religion for the violence that occurred”.
The News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA), through a series of orders, has held certain programmes aired by News18 India and Zee News to be in violation of the Code of Ethics and Broadcasting Standards and Specific Guidelines. The news channels have been directed to remove their videos from online platforms.
Concerning a News18 India news debate on 18 January 2022, the NBDSA observed that the program's thrust had religious undertones.. “By starting the debate on the premise that 20 per cent people were ganging up against Hindus constituting 80 per cent, the anchor had given the debate a thrust, which is communal in nature and not appropriate,” it said.
Imposing a fine of Rs 50,000, the order said: “No doubt, even those elements belonging to minorities who give inflammatory speeches against the people of other religions/majority, have to be condemned. If the debate had been confined with such an objective in mind, probably there would have not been any problem with the same. However, utterances of few such individuals belonging to a particular community should not lead to communal divide.”
As regards a “Desh Nahi Jhukne Denge with Aman Chopra live” show related to the Praveen Nettaru murder case, the NBDSA noted that “during the debate the anchor instead of blaming a few miscreants for the murders and violence in fact blamed the religion for the violence that occurred”.
Another program pertaining to alleged police violence during the occasion of Garba was broadcast on 4 October 2022. Stating that the broadcaster failed to condemn police violence, the authority imposed a fine of Rs 25,000.
On 4 October 2022, a different program about alleged police brutality at the Garba celebration was shown. The authorities levied a fine of Rs 25,000, claiming that the broadcaster failed to denounce police brutality.
The NBDSA said while the broadcaster had merely reported the said incidents as transpired in Ahmedabad, Indore and Akola, the language used in the tickers gave a “communal tilt to the broadcast”.
A complaint was also filed against the "Desh Nahi Jhukne Denge" debate titled "Ghazwa-e-Hind" on 5 August , 2022. The authority observed that the broadcast attempted to communalize the issue of demographic changes in the country's border areas as a result of infiltration. It also imposed Rs 20,000 fine in this case.
The NBDSA stated that it was permissible to hold a debate on the issue of population explosion in its order on a complaint against a Zee News program dated 12 July 20022, which was related to the Uttar Pradesh-Population Control Bill but the broadcast apparently “lacked objectivity and neutrality as it disproportionately focused only on one religion/community as being solely responsible for the population growth”.
In the case of a Times Now broadcast on 23 September 2022 about a protest in Pune by supporters of the now-banned Popular Front of India, the NBDSA warned the broadcaster to be more cautious in the future when reporting such stories.
