On January 9, Zee Hindustan put out an advertisement on the front page of Hindustan Times announcing that it has become “India’s first news channel to go anchorless”.
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Announcing its anchorless initiative, the channel said in its advertisement: “Ab anchor nai, khabrein khud bolengi, kyuki aap samajhdaar hai (now anchors won’t, news will speak on its own because you are intelligent).” The ad also stated that the reason for this initiative was to ensure that “there’s nothing between you and the truth”.
Taking a jibe at anchors from other leading English news channels, Zee Hindustan‘s ad mentions Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami, Aaj Tak‘s Anjana Om Kashyap and India TV‘s Rajat Sharma. For Goswami, the ad said, “Arnab ki debate ab kaun sunega (who will listen to Arnab’s debate now).” For Kashyap, it said, “Anjana ki zarurat this sirf kal tak (Anjana was needed only until yesterday).” As for Sharma, it stated: “India mai ab Rajat ki adalat band (Rajat’s adalat will shut down in India now).”
The ad appeared on HT‘s front page across its 10 editions—Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Lucknow, Patna, Noida, Pune and Ranchi. It also appeared on the front page of Navbharat Times, across all editions, except the Delhi edition printed in Lucknow.
We don’t know if Zee Hindustan‘s decision will have any impact on other channels but it will at least make the channel itself more watchable considering this is what the channel’s anchors have been subjecting us to. Perhaps Zee News could also follow suit.
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