On December 16, a day after the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, carrying on for a week outside Jamia Millia Islamia University, Zee News editor-in-chief Sudhir Chaudhary twisted coverage, yet again, on his show, Daily News Analysis. “Protesting democratically is our right,” Chaudhary told viewers. “But what is happening right now in this country is that under the garb of protest, protesters are propagating violence.” He accused the students of burning vehicles, harassing the public, and “creating chaos”.
Chaudhary’s show was cited by Nasir Azmi, former head of video content at Zee Media, as an example of the channel’s “one-sided reporting”. In a letter to Zee Group’s chairman, Subhash Chandra, Nasir resigned from his position, pointing to the conflict between the organisation’s stance and its editorial decisions. Nasir told the media, the media, “Sudhir has become very powerful now. Nothing happens without him knowing. It is him and a few others who control the organisation right now.”
In his letter to Chandra, Azmi wrote: “Now I feel Zee Media has failed its responsibilities of journalism, especially Zee News which I have given my golden time of life. Zee News failed…whether it was the matter of JNU and Kanhaiya Kumar, and recently AMU and Jamia Millia incident. The channel has tried to mislead the nation and its people, especially on Jamia, where students were beaten brutally after protesting against CAA and upcoming NRC. Therefore I have decided to discontinue my services on moral grounds, in the interest of the nation, and to save journalism.”
Not the first time reporters desert Zee
In 2016, Vishwa Deepak, a Zee News reporter, today resigned from the channel stating that he should have taken this decision earlier, but if he doesn’t take it now, he won’t be able to forgive himself . Deepak accused the channel of ‘biased coverage’ of JNU protest against the sedition charges slapped on JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar.
Deepak, a producer at Zee News, was upset with the way the channel had played up the JNU issue. “Dear Zee News, after 1 year four months and four days, the time has come that I should part ways with you. I should have taken this decision earlier, but if I don’t do it now, I won’t be able to forgive myself,” Deepak said in his four-paged resignation letter.
In the letter, addressed to the Zee News anchor and editor Rohit Sardana, Deepak admitted that while there has been a “communalisation” of newsrooms since 2014, situation is more alarming in Zee News.
2019
Now, Nasir has gone on record with the media saying that Zee would present issues “out of context” to mislead its audience. “Look at the JNU matter,” he said, referring to a 2016 protest at Jawaharlal Nehru University against the hanging of Afzal Guru. “The ‘Pakistan zindabad’ slogan was never said by them. I haven’t been fighting for a day or two; it’s been two years since I started raising my concerns about the future of the organisation.”
Zee’s clip on students shouting “Pakistan zindabad” was mischievously edited to claim the students were shouting “anti-India” slogans. One of the channel’s employees later resigned over Zee’s coverage of the JNU protest.
Nasir brought up a recent video that did the rounds, claiming students at Aligarh Muslim University had shouted “Hinduon se azadi”. The students had actually shouted “In dono se azadi”. “But a lot of media houses, including Zee, used the video. The problem here is that when these videos are analysed in forensic labs and the truth comes out, media organisations like Zee never come out explaining that side.”
After the police brutality at Jamia Millia Islamia on December 15, Zee broadcast an “exclusive” on how locals burned buses and the police retaliated only to “control” them. On his show DNA, Chaudhary said, “Everyone knows of certain areas where a particular community lives and that area will not have any law prevailing. Students across several colleges are creating a similar environment in universities.”
Nasir claimed Zee News chose not to cover the police violence against Jamia students. “We have a WhatsApp group for editors. I was constantly forwarding the brutalities by the Delhi police against students. You won’t believe it: there was not a single comment or reply. In the next edit meet, it was decided that sides will not be taken and we will only say that violence took place.”
Interestingly, Zee Media sent Nasir a letter on December 4, saying his performance was “below average” and that he was being put on a “Performance Improvement Plan” for a month. Nasir alleged it was a consequence of his “constant questioning”. “I had raised my concerns regarding our team being understaffed,” he said. “Another matter I was targeted for was the contents I shared on Facebook. I have got calls from my employers asking me to not share such things.”
Nasir insisted that he wasn’t an underperformer. “They shifted me to a Cluster 2-level team three months ago. Instead of handling one channel, I was in charge of about seven or eight regional channels. In three months, suddenly they have issues with my performance.”
Nasir wrote that there was a “nexus” of four or five people, including Chaudhary, who take all important decisions in Zee. An ex-employee of Zee Media confirmed this. “The moment the organisation decides they don’t need you, they start pointing out every mistake possible,” the former employee said. “There is a nexus for sure, but I guess this is how media works in general.”