‘Misleading coverage’: NBDSA fines Zee News Rs 2 lakh over AMU students' protest; SIO praises action

The Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO) has welcomed the News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority's (NBDSA) decision to impose a Rs 2 lakh fine on Zee News and direct it to remove the footage of a broadcast concerning a student protest at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).

The move by the NBDSA follows a complaint by Talha Mannan, national secretary of the SIO against Zee News over its “inflammatory and misleading” coverage of the student protest at AMU, according to an official statement.

The SIO, in its complaint to the NBDSA, stated that the Zee News broadcast has portrayed the students’ protest at the university in a criminal and extremist manner, and sought to give the peaceful protest a communal and inflammatory character.

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AMU students' protest over fee hike

To which, the NBDSA examined the broadcast and the submissions of both the parties. The authority observed that the protest at AMU concerned multiple issues, including opposition to a fee hike.

It also said that the broadcaster had distorted the event by completely omitting the principal purpose of the agitation, the fee hike, while focusing on Palestine-related slogans.

It noted that Zee News consequently gave the impression that the agitation itself was in respect of the Palestine issue.

“The NBDSA further observed that the broadcaster’s treatment of the slogans was problematic, and that the phraseology used was inflammatory and appeared to advocate the initiation of criminal action, rather than constitute neutral reporting,” the statement read.

Therefore, the NBDSA has levied Rs 2 lakh fine on Zee News and asked it to remove the broadcast footage, where available, from its website and YouTube, along with the relevant hyperlinks and access, and to confirm compliance within seven days.