Zee News fined Rs 2 lakh over ‘inflammatory’ coverage of AMU protest
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The News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA) has fined Zee News Rs 2 lakh for its coverage of pro-Palestine slogans raised during a student protest at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in August, Live Law reported.
The authority found that the broadcast violated its code of conduct.
The order was passed on a complaint filed by Talha Mannan, an alumnus of AMU.
On August 12, Mannan delivered an approximately 18-minute speech during a student protest against a fee hike and demanding the restoration of the Students’ Union.
Mannan alleged that Zee News later aired selective clips of 10 to 15 seconds featuring slogans raised during the protest, portraying the demonstrators’ expressions of solidarity with Palestine as “criminal or anti-national conduct”, according to Live Law.
The complaint concerned two Zee News programmes broadcast on August 16: “Deshhit” and “DNA”.
The “Deshhit” episode was titled “AMU mein ‘Filisteen premi gang’... ‘Yogi style’ mein hoga ilaaj!” or “Palestine-loving gang’ at AMU... will be dealt with in ‘Yogi style’!”
The “DNA” episode was titled “Fees maafi waale aandolan mein ‘Filisteen zindabad’ kahaan se aa gaya? Aligarh Muslim University” or “How did ‘Long live Palestine’ come into a protest for fee waiver? Aligarh Muslim University”.
The news regulator noted that the protest involved several demands, including opposition to the fee hike, but said the broadcaster had omitted its principal purpose and focused instead on the Palestine solidarity slogans.
According to Live Law, the authority observed that this created the impression that the protest was primarily centred on the Palestinian issue.
The NBDSA also objected to on-screen tickers such as “AMU mein Filisteen premi gang”, or “AMU’s ‘Palestine-loving gang’”, and “Yogi style mein hoga ilaaj”, or “will be dealt with in ‘Yogi style’”.
It found that the wording gave the coverage an “inflammatory twist” and appeared to advocate criminal action rather than constitute neutral reporting, the legal news outlet reported.
The authority also directed Zee News to remove the impugned footage, where available, from its website, YouTube and other platforms, including hyperlinks providing access to the broadcasts, Live Law reported.
