Foreign

Zee News producer quits over biased JNU coverage

February 22, 2016

190

Kanhaiya Kumar, head of the student's union at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University is escorted by police outside the Patiala House court in New Delhi — Kanhaiya Kumar (bottom, 2nd R), head of the student's union at Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), is escorted by police outside the Patiala House court in New Delhi, India February 17, 2016. Fighting broke out on Wednesday around Delhi's Patiala House court hearing a case against Kumar accused of sedition, a charge that has sparked protests across university campuses and criticism the government was curtailing free speech. REUTERS/Stringer FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES.

In a letter on Sunday, Zee news producer Vishwa Deepak resigned from his position, citing the biased JNU coverage as the reason for his decision.

According to Deepak, the footage of the JNU protests broadcasted by Zee News had slogans of “Pakistan Zindabad” chanted repeatedly, but that no such slogans had been shouted by the students.

“We heard inaudible slogans from the grainy video. Editors at Zee News felt this sounded like ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ and that’s the caption we went with.”

“The video which had no “Pakistan Zindabad” slogans in it, we played repeatedly to spread madness. How did we establish that Kanhaiya and his associates were chanting slogans when all we heard were voices coming from the darkness. Our biases made us hear Bhartiya Court Zindabad as Pakistan Zindabad.”