Zee News Producer Quits Over Channel’s Fake Coverage Of JNU Protests
A PRODUCER with Zee News has resigned from the TV channel after expressing reservations over its “biased coverage” of the JNU protests and the sedition charge against the university’s students union leader. Vishwa Deepak, who put in his papers on Friday, wrote a lengthy resignation letter in Hindi and addressed to “Dear Zee News”, saying his decision was in “protest against the role we played in kindling and then promoting a campaign of blind nationalism which used the JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar as an excuse”.
No “Pakistan Zindabad” slogans in JNU Protest:
In a letter to Zee News on Sunday, Deepak stated that the channel had broadcast a video of students raising slogans with a caption that said ‘Pakistan Zindabad’. “The video which had no “Pakistan Zindabad” slogans in it.
His letter of resignation went on to note:
“Are we the mouthpieces of the BJP or the RSS that we will do whatever they say? The video didn’t have any “Pakistan Zindabad” slogans at all – yet we played it repeatedly to spread madness and mayhem. How did we believe that some voices coming out of the dark belonged to Kanhaiya and his companions? Due to our biases, we heard “long live Indian courts” as “long live Pakistan” and working on the government line, brought the careers, their hopes and aspirations and families of some people to the brink of destruction. It would have been better if we had let the agencies do their jobs and waited for their conclusions.”
He also expressed his disappointment with the tag of ‘chee news reporter’ that he thinks he carries now.
“After having passed out from one of India’s top media institutes and after having worked for organisations like the Aaj Tak, BBC Deutsche Welle (Germany) now I am left with one identity that I should be called as chee news reporter. My integrity has been shattered.”
The letter also challenged the newsroom practices at the Zee News, which are heavily bent in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“Modi is the prime minister of our country, mine too. But as a journalist, I can’t digest so much of Modi bhakti. My conscience is rebelling against me. It seems as if I’ve fallen ill now,” he added in his letter.