The National Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) on 16 June issued orders against two Kannada news channels – News18 Kannada and Suvarna News, and one English news channel- Times Now over ‘inciting hatred’ through their coverage of the pandemic by falsely targeting and vilifying members of Tablighi Jamaat as well as the entire Muslim community.
News18 Kannada has been imposed a fine of Rs One lakh and ordered to air an apology in both text and voice-over on June 23, 2021, prior to the 9 pm news. Suvarna News has been imposed a fine of Rs 50,000.
Both channels have been ordered to immediately remove the ‘hateful’ broadcasts from their channel’s websites, Youtube and other platforms within 7 days.
The authority acted based on the complaints filed by the Campaign Against Hate Speech (CAHS) in 2020.
“The programmes were prejudicial, inflammatory, and crossed all boundaries of good taste and sensibility without any concern for the feelings of a religious group,” NBSA noted in its order.
It added that they were based “on pure conjecture” and that “the tone, tenor and language was crass, prejudiced and disrespectful”.
Agreeing with CAHS’ observations that hate speech dehumanises entire communities and makes them targets of vigilante violence, NBSA said the programmes “promoted and spread hatred which may have affected people’s lives”
“The titles of the programmes has an insidious effect which would incite communal violence,” NBSA said, referring to programmes aired by Suvarna News.
The authority rejected the defense taken by the broadcasters to the right to free speech and the role of the media and stated that the “right to free speech came with reasonable restrictions”.
NBSA has also issued a censure to Times Now “for telecasting…a programme on a sensitive issue which could create communal dissensions amongst communities” and the broadcaster has been advised to “to avoid those persons to be panellists who are known in the public domain to have rabid and extreme views”.
The fines are in view of the channels’ violation of the Code of Ethics and Broadcasting Standards, and Principles of Self Regulation relating to impartiality and objectivity. The programmes lacked verification and were also in violation of the Guidelines relating to Racial and Religious Harmony.
CAHS was formed in February 2020 and has been tracking hateful media coverage, particularly targeted at minority communities. It has approached various media regulatory bodies such as the NBSA and Press Council of India with complaints against media publications and channels for the latter’s violation of media-related laws and guidelines.
CAHS had filed a complaint against News18 Kannada over two shows aired on 1 April 2020 titled “Do you know how is Delhi’s Nizamuddin Markaz which has spread coronavirus to the nation” and “How many have gone to Delhi’s Jamaat congregation from Karnataka”.
They also filed a complaint against seven shows aired between 31 March 2020 and 4 April 2020 on Suvarna News.
They had filed a complaint against Times Nows’ program titled “Is Tablighi Jamaat wilfully sabotaging India” aired on 2 April 2020 before the District Level Monitoring Committee and PIB Fact Check Unit, which forwarded it to the NBSA.
“These orders by the NBSA are extremely heartening and can instill faith among the general public as well as campaigns such as ours that self-regulatory media mechanisms can function to hold media organizations accountable,” a statement by CAHS stated.
