SSR Case: Aaj Tak Fined Rs 1 Lakh For Telecasting Fake Tweets; Zee News, News 24 Directed To Apologise

National Broadcasting Standard Authority on Wednesday imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the television channel Aaj Tak for telecasting fake tweets related to late actor Sushant Singh Rajput .

NBSA also directed broadcasters Aaj Tak, Zee News, India TV and News 24 to air an apology on their channels for violation of ethics in TV coverage of the case.

The order was signed and released by NBSA chairperson retired Supreme Court Justice AK Sikri. 

The order was shared on Twitter by one of the complainants Saurav Das.

In its order, the NBSA said it had directed Aaj Tak to air an apology for not conducting the due diligence prior to telecasting fake tweets and attributing them to the late actor.

The channel will be given the text, date and time of the apology and proof of its telecast will have to be submitted on a CD within seven days of telecast.

NBSA said that if videos of these programmes were on the website of the broadcasters, YouTube or other links, they should be removed immediately, with confirmation of the same sent to NBSA within seven days.

NBSA ordered  Aaj Tak and India TV to apologise for the egregious violations of the guidelines and for the manner in which the images of Sushant Singh Rajput’s body were shown, LiveLaw reported.

ABP Majha was issued just a warning not to repeat the violation in future since the channel had not shown close-up images of the body.

NewsNation was issued a warning since it had already expressed regret over its telecast.

On tickers and taglines used by Aaj Tak, Zee News and News 24, NBSA said broadcasters had violated the Specific Guideline covering reportage and had directed the channels to air an apology.

Aaj Tak had displayed headlines like “Sushant itne ashant kaise”, Zee News, had flashed “7 questions on Sushant’s death” while News 24 had used headlines like “Hey, why didn’t you watch your own film Sushant?”