News Broadcasting
Non-bailable FIR by Mamata Banerjee against Zee News & Sudhir Chaudhary
MUMBAI: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has filed a non-bailable FIR against Zee News and its reporter Sudhir Chaudhary for daring to openly air the communal rampage which took place in her backyard.
Chaudhary wrote on Facebook: “Just to inform all of you Mamta Banerjee Govt has filed an FIR against me and Zee News reporter Pooja Mehta and cameraperson Tanmay Mukherjee for covering Dhulagarh Riots on Zee News. The FIR has non-bailable sections which is enough to gauge their intentions to arrest me and my colleagues. Pooja Mehta is just 25 and got the taste of Mamta’s intolerance so early in life in the form of a non bailable FIR.
The message goes on to say: “This is what a young girl reporter is getting to learn from a woman Chief Minister who claims to be the champion of democracy. It’s another low point in our democracy to see a democratically elected government using police force to curb media in an effort to suppress uncomfortable facts and reality. When you can’t manage media, use the state machinery to conquer the media only to conceal the failures of your administration. It shows the intolerance of a chief minister who is using the state machinery as her personal fiefdom and acting like a feudal lord. I see the positive side of this blunder as a window for all free minds of this nation to act and show fascist forces their actual place. Or will once again Selfish Politics prevail? That’s my fear. #IntolerantMamta”
A few days ago Dhulagarh in Howrah district of West Bengal, located some 30 odd kilometers from the state’s capital was rocked by communal violence. While Hindus of the town were busy with Margashirsha Poornima festivities on 13 December, the Muslims formed a procession, blaring loud music, ostensibly claiming to celebrate Milad-un-Nabi, which actually fell the day before and was a public holiday. A simple request by Hindus to lower the volume of the loudspeakers provoked the Muslims into a frenzy of riot and arson. Hindu homes and shops were set ablaze and scores of Hindus were forced to flee. Locals reported that the Muslims who rioted at Dhulagarh were not locals but had come from outside specifically with the purpose of ousting Hindus. As per news reports, the police party sent to put an end to the riot was stopped by the rioters and bombs were hurled at it.
This is not the first case in recent times of a TV channel getting the axe for reporting the truth. Earlier, it was NDTV India faced a one-day black-out imposed by the Union Government for airing content regarding Pathankot strike that it felt could have aided the terrorists and imperiled the lives of security men and their families.
News Broadcasting
Rajesh Sundaram joins NDTV Profit as senior editor, assignment
The 32-year newsroom veteran has launched channels on three continents and covered everything from 9/11 to South African television
MUMBAI: NDTV Profit has bolstered its newsroom with a hire who has done rather more than most. Rajesh Sundaram, a journalist with over three decades of editorial, managerial and consultative experience across India and international markets, joins as senior editor, assignment, tasked with sharpening the network’s newsgathering and real-time response.
Sundaram’s career reads like a tour of Indian media’s most formative moments. He began at Businessworld in 1994, moved to Zee News as bureau chief across Mumbai and Chennai, then joined NDTV in 2002 as part of its political bureau during a particularly febrile period in Indian politics. A stint as India correspondent for Al Jazeera International followed, where he covered key geopolitical developments and got his first serious taste of the global newsroom.
What sets Sundaram apart, however, is his serial channel-launching habit. At NewsX, he helped get the operation off the ground. At Headlines Today, part of the India Today Group, he served as editor. At News Nation, he helped launch the Hindi news channel and its digital ecosystem. He then crossed continents to lead the launch of ANN7 in South Africa as editor-in-chief, overseeing both television and digital. Back in India, he launched Tamil news channels News7 Tamil and Cauvery News, and later served as principal consultant for the launch of Marathi channel Lokshahi. Most recently, he helped build and lead the Press Trust of India’s video service and content studio, before stints consulting for Business Today and The Himalayan Times.
Rahul Kanwal, chief executive and editor-in-chief of NDTV, left little doubt about what Sundaram is expected to deliver. “The assignment desk is where a newsroom’s intent becomes action,” he said. “Rajesh brings a rare combination of field experience and leadership in building news operations at scale.”
Sundaram has reported from across India and the world, covering elections, civil conflicts, the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the 2008 US presidential election.
At NDTV Profit, he will lead the assignment desk, driving editorial coordination and real-time response across markets and breaking developments. For a business news network sharpening its focus on speed and multi-platform delivery, it has hired a man who has built newsrooms from scratch on three continents. The assignment desk is in good hands.
