TV news regulator asks Zee News to apologise for ‘linking actor Rakul Preet Singh to drugs’

The News Broadcasting Standards Authority on Thursday found Zee News, Zee 24 Taas, Zee Hindustani, Times Now, India Today, Aaj Tak, India TV, News Nation, and ABP News at fault for putting out “slanderous reports linking Hindi film actor Rakul Preet Singh to drugs”, Live Law reported.

The regulator directed the channels to remove the videos in question if they are still on their websites or YouTube or social media pages, and report back within seven days.

It further told the Zee group channels to air an apology before 9 pm on December 17 for running hashtags and taglines that the NBSA deemed “offensive, derogatory and violative of the code of ethics”.

As for the rest of the news channels, the NBSA warned them for using hashtags, taglines and images against the actor, and cautioned them to exercise care and not broadcast "unverified and incorrect information".

The NBSA did not find the story run by Times Now to be objectionable but found its hashtags and taglines to be offensive. In the case of India TV, the regulator noted that pictures of the actor “dancing, smoking, and of her hips were objectionable, placed out of context and misleading”. The taglines used by India Today and Aaj Tak were found to be “out of context...with no link with the news which was reported”.

The NSBA pointed out that most of these channels didn’t report that actor Rhea Chakraborty had denied making a statement to the Narcotics Control Bureau that Rakul Preet Singh was involved in using or peddling drugs. “The retraction statement should also have been telecast in the same broadcast so that the viewers could understand the entire context of the evolving story and the versions of the parties,” the NBSA said.

The authority also noted that since all channels other than those of the Zee group had claimed that the Narcotics Control Bureau was the source of the information, “there is a possibility that some information may have been leaked from the NCB”.

Rakul had moved the Delhi High Court in September seeking action against these TV channels under the Programme Code, framed under the Cable TV Networks Regulation Act. The court, in turn, directed the NBSA to look into the actor's complaints against the TV channels.