For insensitive reporting on Sushant Singh Rajput's death, four channels were asked to submit an apology according to the directions given by the National Broadcasting Authority (NBA). Zee News submitted its apology on the same, which was circulated on Twitter by a user who was one of the people who filed a case against the channels.
The NBSA had recently asked Aaj Tak to air an apology on October 27 at 8 pm for their tweets and certain screenshots that were wrongly reported as Sushant's last weeks.
The Twitter user posted, "@ZeeNews apologises to the nation for violating reporting standards on a complaint lodged by me and others.
Doesn't feel this is enough. But yeah, they've done it and should be ashamed of it @sudhirchaudhary."
Another user posted, "Very Good and brave effort. What about @republic @Republic_Bharat @TimesNow who have been running similar coverage throughout in June -September 2020 and till now also."
Some of the taglines used by Zee News in the story were, 'Patna ka Sushant Mumbai mein fail kyu', 'Bhavnatamak immunity kamzor thi', 'Kaise hit wicket ho gaye Sushant', 'Apne bedroom mein hare rang ke kapde se banaya fandaa', 'Screen pe role model asal zindagi mein kamzor kyu'.
Apart from Zee News, Aaj Tak also apologised
Apart from Zee News, Aaj Tak also apologised and clearly claimed that while reporting on the incidents relating to the suicide of the actor, the channel had run certain tweets and wrongly reported the screenshots calling them real and attributing them as the actor's last tweets.
Twitter, however, stated that the apology should be given on Zee News channel by an anchor and not in a way in which it was rendered. A few months ago, Ravish Kumar had stated on India TV that the way suicide cases are reported on channels is inappropriate. Channels only do so to get TRPs and people who view such reporting are also contributing to misinformation being widely circulated in such cases.
The NSBA had also directed India TV to publicly apologise for showing Sushant's body on the TV, while Zee News, India TV and News 24 were asked to air apologies for insensitive reporting.
