Editor in India Today Group says she was fired for a tweet criticising ‘fake news spreading’ TV anchors

In what appears to be perturbing news coming from the India Today Group, Angshukanta Chakraborty, Political Editor with DailyO, has stated that the group has fired her over a tweet.

The said tweet was a commentary on media groups allowing top editors and anchors to get away with hate speech and pedalling fake news.

Speaking to Newslaundry, Chakraborty said the tweet was not aimed at any particular organisation, neither was it meant to target any one media group.

The tweet came days after Aaj Tak anchor Rohit Sardana spread misinformation on Kasganj riots on his show, Dangal. Chakraborty stated that her colleagues in DailyO had soon hinted to her that her tweet had ruffled a few feathers in the top management, but it was only yesterday, on Monday, that she was called in by the Human Resources. “I was given three options. I was told I should either delete the tweet or resign or accept immediate termination of my contract. I offered to accept my termination,” she said. Chakraborty emphasised that she had earlier critiqued media outlets in her DailyO pieces but never faced any flak perhaps because these involved other media houses.

Chakraborty also stated that in line with the group’s social media policy, her bio on Twitter ran the disclaimer that views expressed on her timeline were personal.

Newslaundry reached out to India Today Vice-Chairperson Kalli Purie, DailyO Editor Jairaj Singh and Group Head of Human Resources Purva Misra for the company’s version of events. The story will be updated as and when they respond.

Newslaundry also reached out to Prerna Kaul Mishra, social media editor, and she sent us the group’s response to our queries. It is produced below verbatim.

Angshukanta Chakravorty’s services were terminated due to breach of editorial conduct. The India Today Group prides itself in being the gold standard of credible journalism. Our Code of Conduct is sacrosanct across all our mediums, including social media. Actions contrary to our editorial ethos have no place in our organization.

As was done in this case, the concerned employee is counseled multiple times prior to taking any action. The violation is also investigated by an internal panel and taken to logical conclusion.

This individual case, being presented in any other manner, is mala fide and should be understood as such.

It isn’t specified what this “breach of editorial conduct” was but if Chakraborty is correct in her assertions, it raises many troubling questions for India Today — this is, after all, the same organisation where top editors and anchors stay on despite spreading fake news on Twitter and TV news. Reports from both Aaj Tak and India Today have made it to Alt News’ list of top fake news stories circulated in 2017 and the group has rarely deemed it important to apologise for these mistakes. Notably, the India Today Group likes to peg itself as “India’s most democratic newsroom”. Another troubling aspect is the near total control organisations are increasingly trying to exert over their employees’ social media timelines. This is keeping in tradition with the Times Group that had practically barred its employees from having an opinion on social media last year.