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Despite NBDSA order, News18 India does not take down offending bits from debate on Arvind Kejriwal – Alt News

    In an order dated January 24, the News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA) directed News18 India, a channel affiliated with Mukesh Ambani-led Network18, to remove offensive sections from a controversial debate aired on its channel last year.

    The debate featured in an episode of the popular segment ‘Goonj with Rubika Liyaquat’ and aired on News18 India on March 28, 2024. The topic of discussion was alleged corruption by the Aam Aadmi Party following the arrest of former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal the on March 21, 2024 over charges of corruption and money laundering in the now-scrapped liquor policy.

    The NBDSA is an independent self-regulatory body which monitors news content in the broadcast and digital mediums. It was of the opinion that the programme and the way its anchor Rubika Liyaquat conducted the debate violated its guidelines on neutrality and “attributed guilt in a matter that is sub judice”.

    The NBDSA gave the channel seven days (up to January 31) to comply and make edits to this episode. However, as of February 3, Alt News found that News18 India had not removed these “offending portions” and the episode in its entirety was available online for all to see.

    Why did the NBDSA issue this order?

    Action by the NBDSA came after Pune-based activist Indrajeet Ghorpade’s complaint against the show and its anchor, Liyaquat. Ghorpade, in a formal complaint dated April 1, 2024, said that the channel justified the “falsehood promoted by the BJP spokesperson, who said the courts have found the Delhi CM guilty”.

    During the debate, around the 7:58-minute mark, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala wrongly claimed that the court said Kejriwal cannot be granted any relief because he committed a “scam”. Note that Kejriwal was indicted or accused of executing the excise policy and allegedly laundering money from it, the court had not convicted him in the case. He was arrested for skipping Enforcement Directorate summons nine times. Liyaquat, however, does not correct Poonawala.

     

    Additionally, throughout the programme, Liyaquat uses phrases that imply Kejriwal was guilty and convicted. Around the 14:30-minute time stamp, responding to the AAP spokesperson, Liyaquat says questioning the ED was bizarre and that the party should “admit” that the truth had been exposed.

    In another instance, she says “Agar bhrashtachar nahi hiya hota aur itne bade aarop nahi lagte, toh main keh deti ki aap jo keh rahen hai usme dum hai.” (“Had your party not committed corruption, such grave charges were not levelled against you, I would have said what you are saying has substance.”)

     

    Not just that, Ghorpade’s complaint says that Liyaquat’s defence of the prime minister almost indicates a partisan attitude. This can be seen around the 37:25-minute mark of the debate, where Liyaquat subjects viewers to a bitter diatribe against Samajwadi Party spokesperson, Ameeque Jamei for calling Modi a corrupt Prime Minister. When Jamei accuses Modi of running a national-level extortion racket through the Electoral Bonds scheme (which has since been decreed unconstitutional) as well as the ED, Liyaquat angrily demands that he maintain etiquette and decorum while talking about the country’s Prime Minister. Modi, she insinuates, must be respected for the sole reason that he is the country’s Prime Minister. She then challenges the speaker to prove that Modi is corrupt. “I will defend the Prime Minister of my country—why wouldn’t I?” she says.

     

    She then implicates the speaker as being a stooge of the opposition party, levelling the defamatory accusation that he receives monetary benefit from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to turn a blind eye towards corruption by her.  “Are you on Mamata didi’s payroll? He (Narendra Modi) is the Prime Minister of my country. Like I respect your Akhilesh Yadav, won’t you respect the Prime Minister of the country? You hate that man so much that you don’t even respect his chair. This (hate) is what is drowning you. The hate inside you is eating you up, and you don’t even know it. Are you on Didi’s payroll? Is she giving you money? You say what you want about the Bharatiya Janata Party, but don’t say anything against my country’s Prime Minister. You speak against any politician you want, but don’t say anything against my Prime Minister. You say what you want to the politicians. You are filled with hate, and this hate will consume you.”

    “I will certainly defend the Prime Minister of the country, taal thok ke, I will defend him. No mai ka laal can stop me. Is that clear?” Rubika exclaims. What makes this even more convoluted is the fact that this debate programme had been aired less than a month before the commencement of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024.

     

    News18 India submitted its reponses against Ghorpade’s complaints to the NBDSA on April 11, 2024. It outright denied that the episode in any way implied or attributed guilt to Kejriwal and said that Liyaquat was merely raising questions as part of her “journalistic duty” without violating “principles of impartiality”.

    However, the NBDSA found that Liyaquat’s phrasing and conduct during the debate did violate Specific Guidelines for Reporting Court Proceedings (as laid down by the News Broadcasting Standards Authority) and the principle of neutrality under the Code of Ethics & Broadcasting Standards. The regulatory body, in its order, said that “the anchor had attributed guilt in a matter that is sub judice”.

    The NBDSA also observed that this section was violative of the judgment of the Bombay High Court in Nilesh Navlakha & Anr. vs UOl & Ors (2021) SCC Online BOM 56, which held that the right to freedom of speech and expression enjoyed by media broadcasters cannot trump the right to fair information enjoyed by the citizenry. As such, media houses must have an adequate protocol for publishing information, especially on sensitive court proceedings to ensure that their reporting does not hamper the ongoing investigation in any way.

    News18 India also said that Liyaquat’s defence of the Prime Minister did not violate any guidelines and that it was the natural reaction of an “ordinary citizen” against someone using “objectionable language” for someone occupying one of the highest constitutional posts in the country.

    Ghorpade’s complaint said that Liyaquat’s conduct and defence of Modi fed into the larger narrative that anyone criticising the government was a traitor and anti-national.

    The NBDSA found that Liyaquat’s behaviour did violate the Code of Conduct. It said that while the anchor was well within her rights in defending the Prime Minister, she should have exercised restraint and maintained a professional tone to ensure that the discussion did not retract from a meaningful debate.

    Not the first time

    It is interesting to note that this is not the first time the NBDSA has flagged News18 India’s content. Alt News previously reported on several violations, including one such instance from November 2024, where the NBDSA had issued a warning to the broadcaster for airing an interview with Hindu seer Dhirendra Shastri, also known as Baba Bageshwar, on July 10, 2024. Shastri had made communally divisive statements and encouraged the conspiracy on ‘love jihad’, violating specific guidelines on reportage related to Racial and Religious Harmony, as well as the guidelines on Supernatural, Occultism, and Paranormal content, as laid down by the NBDSA.

    In February 2024, the NBDSA had fined the broadcaster Rs 50,000 for stereotyping the Muslim community as barbaric and perpetuating the ‘love jihad’ conspiracy in the case of Shraddha Walker, who was killed by her partner in Delhi and later hacked to pieces.

    In 2023, News18 India was fined Rs 25,000 by the NBDSA for having vilified the Muslim community and celebrating extrajudicial violence against Muslim men.

    In October 2022, News18 India was slapped with a Rs 50,000 fine for associating Muslim female protestors with terrorism. Along  an order for the news cwith the fine, the NBDSA ordered the channel to train its anchor Aman Chopra on how to host debates on sensitive issues.

    In June 2022, News18 India was asked to take down a fake video that perpetuated the conspiracy of ‘thook jihad’, which had been broadcast in 2021.

    Repeated violations of the NBDSA guidelines is testimony to the fact that News18 India has compromised its journalistic spirit in favour of an almost partisan take. It does this by lecturing and castigating speakers from the opposition parties, as well as clamping down on any oppositional views and critiques of the Prime Minister. Moreover, the channel has frequently amplified misinformation as well as run smear campaigns on Opposition parties.

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