Zee News Blasted for Labelling Poet Gauhar Raza ‘Anti-National’

Zee News’ coverage of recent events has angered the academic community, which demanded that the channel apologise.

Zee News has been called out on its irresponsible coverage of the events at JNU and their aftermath. (Photo Courtesy: Zee News screengrabs)

A number of scholars, actors, journalists, lawyers, academics and others have strongly condemned Zee News and its role in targeting individuals as ‘anti-national’ on prime time slots.

The channel has now targeted Gauhar Raza unpardonably, using language that violates the rules of responsible journalism. Referring to those who participated in the Mushaira as the ‘Afzal-premi gang,’ Zee News dissected Raza’s poem and lambasted him for offering his support to the students of JNU.

A statement demanding that Zee News apologise for its irresponsible coverage has been signed by several prominent people including actors Naseeruddin Shah and Sharmila Tagore. The academic community, which includes the likes of Sumit Sarkar, KN Pannikar and Tanika Sarkar, also came out in support of JNU professor Nivedita Menon, who has been attacked by Zee News, for her supposedly ‘anti-national’ sentiments.

An excerpt from the statement:

Singling out of individuals and creating a mass-frenzy against them using the medium of TV is a dangerous trend. Zee TV initiated this defamatory exercise in the case of the students of the JNU also, and these doctored videos have become the basis of arrest and harassment of Kanhaiya, Umar and Anirban. They have not yet apologised for this highly irresponsible act. Despite their bluff being called, they have persisted.

We call upon the Press Council of India and the Broadcast Association to take note of this criminality and initiate necessary action against the channel. We also appeal to the governments of Delhi and the centre to initiate criminal proceeding against the channel for putting a citizen’s life under threat. We strongly condemn this unethical and criminal act of the Zee news and demand an unconditional apology from them.

Read the full statement here.