News Broadcasting
Zee News may challenge NBSA order on ‘Afzal Premi Gang…”
MUMBAI: Self-regulatory news broadcasters authority NBSA has asked the Hindi news channel Zee News to pay Rs 1 lakh as a fine for the report titled ‘Afzal Premi Gang ka Mushaira’, telecast an apology on 8 September and remove the programme video from Zee website.
In the report, Zee News had referred to Urdu poet and scientist Gauhar Raza as anti-national and a supporter of Afzal Guru who was convited and hanged for 2001 Parliament attack. The channel had telecast one of the poetry recitals of Raza along with the footage of the controversial Jawaharlal Nehru University protests of February 2016.
Zee Media editor Sudhir Chaudhary meanwhile denied violation of NBSA guidelines. The channel, Chaudhary said, was contemplating legal remedies including challenging NBSA order, Mint reported.
Acting on two complaints one by Raza in April 2016 and a joint complaint filed by the singer Shubha Mudgal, actor Sharmila Tagore, poet Ashok Vajpeyi and writer Syeda Hameed, the NBSA chairperson retired justice R.V. Raveendran, in an order dated 31 August, stated that the channel had breached the NBSA guidelines.
NBSA, at a meeting held on 10 January 2017, after viewing the CD, considering the submissions and examining the matter, was of the view that the broadcaster (Zee) had breached the guidelines relating to accuracy, impartiality, neutrality, which required “TV news channels must provide for neutrality by offering equality for all affected parties, players and actors in any dispute or conflict to present their point of view” and “news channels must strive to ensure that allegations are not portrayed as fact and charges are not conveyed as an act of guilt”, fairness, objectivity and privacy as also the “Guidelines on broadcast of potential defamatory content”; that the broadcaster had failed to give an opportunity to Prof Gauhar Raza, who was being reported upon, to give his version/views; that broadcasting a programme using the footage of the JNU incidents with the poetry recital of Prof Raza and giving title to the programme as “Afzal Premi Gang ka Mushaira” was highly inappropriate and derogatory as mere reference by Prof Gauhar Raza while reciting his poetry to “Kanhaiya”, “Nehru University” & “Rohit Vemula”, could not be a ground to brand the poet, the organisers of the Mushaira and the audience as “Afzal Premi Gang”; and that branding all the participants/audience who attended the Mushaira as belonging to a “gang” who admired Afzal Guru, when Gauhar Raza in his poetry recital did not even mention or refer to Afzal Guru, was unwarranted.”
The request of the complainant for award of compensation of Rs.10 million for loss of reputation, and consequences of incitement of hatred and ill-will against him, was not considered, “being beyond the jurisdiction of NBSA.”
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News Broadcasting
News TV viewership jumps 33 per cent as West Asia war draws audiences
BARC Week 8 data shows news share rising to 8 per cent despite T20 World Cup
NEW DELHI: Even as individual television news channel ratings remain under a temporary pause, the genre itself is seeing a clear surge in audience attention.
According to the latest data from Broadcast Audience Research Council India, television news recorded a 33 per cent jump in genre share in Week 8 of 2026, covering February 28 to March 6.
The news genre accounted for 8 per cent of total television viewership during the week, up from 6 per cent the previous week. The spike in attention coincided with escalating geopolitical tensions involving the United States, Israel and Iran, which have kept global headlines firmly fixed on West Asia.
The rise is notable because it came at a time when cricket was dominating television screens. The high-stakes stages of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, including the Super 8 fixtures and semi-finals, were being broadcast during the same period.
Despite the cricket frenzy, viewers appeared to be toggling between sport and global affairs, boosting the overall share of news programming.
The surge in genre share comes even as the government has enforced a one-month pause on publishing ratings for individual news channels. The move followed regulatory scrutiny of the television ratings ecosystem.
While channel-level rankings remain temporarily out of sight, the genre-level data suggests that when global tensions escalate, audiences continue to turn to television news for real-time updates.
