New Delhi: The News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) has directed leading news channels to air an apology for insensitive reporting on Sushant Singh Rajput’s death.
NBSA has fined a news channel with Rs 1 lakh for telecasting fake tweets related to actor Sushant Singh Rajput, Live Law reported last Thursday.
The self-governing authority also directed broadcasters Zee News, India TV, AajTak and News 24 to air an apology on their channels for violation of ethics in TV coverage of the case and for affecting the dignity of the deceased.
The order was signed and released by NBSA chairperson retired Supreme Court Justice AK Sikri. NBSA said it had directed AajTak to air an apology for not conducting the due diligence prior to telecasting fake tweets and attributing them to the late actor.
The order was shared on Twitter by one of the complainants Saurav Das. The authority will give the channel the text, date, and time of the apology and AajTak will have to submit proof of its telecast on a CD within seven days of the telecast.
It also issued a warning to News Nation for showing the actor’s corpse but let it off after the channel showed remorse and said the same would not be repeated. ABP Majha was also let off with a warning as the authority noted that the channel did not show close up photos of the actor’s body.
NSBA acknowledged that the media has the right to freedom of expression and that the suicide of an actor would become “big news” and discussions on it would lead to hypotheses. However, it said that the media should report such cases without indulging in sensationalism.
