Acting on a complaint forwarded by the Election Commission of India, the News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority issued a warning to News18 India for giving a communal colour to a programme on comments made by various political leaders on the occasion of Ram Navami last year.
Aired in the run up to the 2024 general elections, the NBDSA also directed News18 India to remove the video of the debate in question on all platforms within seven days. The NBDSA noted that the programme's anchor violated the authority’s guidelines on election broadcasts and its code for anchors conducting debates.
While it’s unclear who the anchor of the programme is, the order uploaded on the NBDSA website noted that it was acting on a communication it received from the EC in April last year. The EC had received from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on April 18, 2024. It then forwarded the complaint to the NBDSA, asking it to examine the matter under its existing guidelines.
According to CPIM’s complaint, the anchor of News18 India’s show Aar Paar “resorted to polarising the voters and appealing them to vote on communal lines” which was “in blatant violation of the Model Code of Conduct”. Aar Paar is News18 India’s flagship primetime show, usually hosted by Amish Devgan.
News18 India responded to the complaint on May 3 last year, claiming the CPIM “had failed to provide or point out any specific statements or contents of the programme which could be seen as a violation of the MCC”. It also claimed its programme “was conducted in compliance with applicable laws” and that “nowhere in the programme” did the anchor make comments “against any specific religion or asked viewers to vote on communal lines”.
However, in an order passed on January 24, the NBDSA found that the anchor’s analysis was biased and gave the debate a communal colour.
“In the analysis conducted by the anchor in the broadcast, graphics were shown correlating Lord Rama with an increase in the vote share of the BJP and the consequent decline of Congress, thereby giving a communal colour to the debate. The broadcast/anchor appeared to have created a narrative which was biased,” the NBDSA observed.
It also noted that had News18 India just limited itself to the analysis of statements made by political leaders, such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee, the authority would have not found anything objectionable with the debate.
Newslaundry could not verify if News18 India had removed the video of the broadcast in question from YouTube and its website.
But this isn’t the first time that News18 has been pulled up by the NBDSA – see here, here, here and here – and it’s unlikely to be the last. Watch this episode of TV Newsance on how anchor Amish Devgan added primetime ghee to communal fire.
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