In his show last October, News18 India’s Aman Chopra “targeted, vilified and castigated the entire Muslim community for the actions of a few miscreants” and gave an incident a “communal tilt”.
This was the conclusion of the News Broadcasting & Digital Standards Authority in an order dated February 27. News18 India was fined Rs 25,000, warned not to repeat the offence, and directed to take down videos of the broadcast in question.
It was among five orders issued by the NBDSA for “communal” programming on News18 India. All five primetime shows were anchored by Chopra.
In all five cases, News18 India was found to have violated the Code of Ethics & Broadcasting Standards.
First
The first show aired on October 4 last year and featured Chopra exhorting viewers to count along while airing footage of the police caning a group of Muslim men tethered to a pole. The men were accused of seeking to stop a garba function. Chopra described their caning as “dandiya”.
The NBDSA acted on the basis of two complaints filed by one Indrajeet Ghorpade and the Citizens for Justice and Peace. The NBDSA said News18 India had failed to condemn the police violence, and that its tickers “raised rhetorical questions” that “gave the impression that all Muslim men had attended garba celebrations only with ulterior motives”.
It specifically flagged some statements made by Chopra such as “Gujarat Police ne unke saath dandiya khela,” “Gujarat police ne unka ilaaj kia,” “Garbe mei itna interest kyun hai Muslim yuvakon ko? Koi aur tylohar mein itna interest nahin hain. Lekin pechan chupakar kyun jaate hai,” and “Aisa kya mil raha hai garbe mei ki Islam ki rigidness khatam ho jati hai.”
This story was originally published in newslaundry.com . Read the full story here