After confirming the telecast was live, an Indian cricket fan in Australia called Zee News “the worst channel in India” and urged it to not communalise issues, before he was pushed away by a reporter. A clip of the incident was widely circulated on social media.

The interaction took place during a live segment from Adelaide following India’s defeat to England in the second semifinal of the 2022 T20 World Cup.

“Dekhiye, sabse pehle ye ek game hai. Hamaare haath mein hai, doosro ko haath mein hai. It’s all right,” said the Indian fan while talking to the camera. “Is this going live? Ok, this is Zee, sabse pehle main ye kehna chahunga, if you don’t mind. Yaha pe at least Hindu-Musalman mat karna. You are the worst media channel in India." 

Zee News has often been accused of broadcasting hate speech. Earlier this year, the news broadcasting and digital standards authority asked it to take down a show on Muslim population, saying the channel had an “agenda”. Newslaundry reported on several such incidents.

Newslaundry caught up with the man to understand the motive behind the outburst.

Sahil Saroya, who works for retail giant Woolworths and has been living in Australia for seven years now, said the “condition of media in my country” upsets him. “I can’t go to India every month to take some initiative…all I can do is post on social media platforms which don’t reach out as much. So yesterday when I saw a Zee News mic there and they were live, my only motive was to expose or tell the viewers what they are doing with you and how they are fooling you.”

Sahil said he wanted to say many things in a polite way but the reporter “just pushed me and I felt bad and I left”.

Talking about the state of media in India, he said he is not comparing it to Australia but “our media has gone to its lowest” and “people here make fun of anchors who are just playing circus on TV”. 

About problems he associates with Indian media channels, he said they are often “biased”, “without facts”, and now “we are hearing abusive language”. “It’s dividing people in the name of religion, caste. I have seen people in my childhood never fighting on these issues. And now everywhere, Hindu-Muslim, Hindu-Muslim. All because of these propaganda channels. Why don’t they understand that if they respect every religion in the same way, maybe they will get more viewers and so called TRP.”