NBDSA pulls up news channels for violating Code of Ethics

The News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority on February 28, 2024, announced a slew of orders against some news channels on complaints received against them for violating the Code of Ethics and Broadcasting Standards and Guidelines pertaining to accuracy, neutrality and fairness, religious harmony, negative stereotyping, good taste and decency.

Three of the orders issued by NBDSA were regarding complaints received against Hindi News channels Aaj Tak for its programme, ‘Black and White’.

One complaint each was received against News8 India, Times Now Navbharat, Zee News, and India Today.

News18 India

The complaint received against News18 India was regarding four shows aired on the Shraddha Murder case in 2022. The complainant submitted that the channel used this case to flame communal fires by connecting it to the Islamphobic conspiracy of ‘Love Jihad’.

NBDSA held that the broadcasts were not only violative of the principles of neutrality, impartiality and accuracy under the Code of Ethics, but also violative of the Specific Guidelines covering reportage relating to Racial and Religious Harmony.

The Authority admonished the broadcaster, particularly the anchors, and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000. The broadcaster was also asked to remove the videos of the broadcast.

Times Now Navbharat

The complaint received against Times Now Navbharat was regarding a programme titled ‘Love toh bahana hai... Hindu betiyan nishana hai’, which was aired on May 31, 2023. The complainant stated that the impugned broadcast violated the Code of Ethics and Broadcasting Standards and the principles relating to impartiality, objectivity, neutrality and accuracy, apart from the Guidelines for:

• Prevention of hate speech
• Prevention of communal colour in reporting crime, riots, rumours, and such related incidents

On perusal of the impugned broadcast, NBDSA stated that it appeared that at the very beginning of the broadcast, the anchor has included that men from a certain community lured women from another community by hiding their religious identity and then committed violence or murders against such women and every such violence or murder committed on women of a certain community related to ‘love jihad’.

In view of the violations, NBDSA imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the broadcaster and ordered them to remove the video of the said broadcast.

Zee News

The complaint concerned fake news aired on Zee New’s ‘Daily News & Analysis’ programme on January 18, 2023, that ChatGPT is against the Hindu religion. The complainant stated that the allegations were unfounded, baseless and made without any merit.

Based on submissions advanced by the broadcaster that ChatGPT had taken corrective action, which was broadcast on August 18, 2023 regarding the issue raised in the impugned broadcast aired on August 17, 2023 NBDSA found no violation of the Code of Ethics and Broadcasting Standards and Guidelines in the impugned broadcast, and therefore, decided to close the complaint.

India Today

The complainant had filed a grievance against a programme aired by India Today on June 30, 2023, titled ‘Nudity sparks outrage at USA pride parades – How India’s LGBTQ+ lead responsibly’, stating that the said programme was full of factual inaccuracies, and intended to spread fear and demonise LGBTQ+ people.

NBDSA held that using visuals and images totally out of context, which were not part of the incident covered was a violation of the principle of accuracy as enshrined under Code of Ethics and Broadcasting Standards.

The Authority decided to advise the broadcaster to use factually correct images and ensure strict adherence to the Code of Ethics and Broadcasting Standards in future broadcasts.