Arnab Goswami's channel fined Rs 20 lakh by UK regulator for promoting hatred towards Pakistanis

BACKGROUND

1. Owner of Republic TV News Anchor Arnab Goswami's Hindi news channel Republic Bharat in the United Kingdom has been charged £20,000 or INR 20 lacs by the UK's broadcasting regulator Ofcom for promoting and justifying hatred towards Pakistani people in their show Poochta Hai Bharat.

2. On 22nd December Ofcom imposed a fine of INR 20 lacs on Worldview Media Network Limited which embraces the license for Republic Bharat, for breaching Ofcom Broadcasting Code.

3. Ofcom also directedthe channel to broadcast a statement of Ofcom's discoveries and not to repeat the programme on their channel.

4. The fine was imposed concerning a daily current affairs programme namely Poochta Hai Bharat which has been broadcasted on 6 September 2019 by Goswami, which directly amounted to "a sustained and repeated attack on Pakistani people”.

5. Ofcom further told that they had identified the programme during "routine monitoring”.

6. The Goswami's showwas featuring a debate between three Indian and Pakistani guests discussing India's attempt to send the spacecraft Chandrayaan 2 to the Moon.

7. The debate indirectly discussed Pakistan's alleged terrorist activities against India and also compared India's space study and technological improvementswith Pakistan,

8. The debate was set against the backdrop of increased tensions between India and Pakistan following India's revocation of Article 370.

HIGHLIGHTED MISTAKES

1. In the programme, Goswami and some of the guests conveyed the view that all Pakistani people are terrorists.

2. Gaurav Arya, the consulting editor of Channel found saying that their (Pakistan's) scientists, doctors, their leaders, politicians all are terrorists. Even their sportspeople. This whole nation is terrorist. I do not think anyone has been saved. You are dealing with a terrorist entity.

3. One guest Prem Shukla also described and compared Pakistani scientists as "thieves” and correspondingly Goswami, addressing Pakistani people,made a harsh remark that "We (Indians) make scientists, you (Pakistani) make terrorists”.

4. As World is ignoring hatred,on one hand, the Arnab's show was based on "a legitimate story covering Pakistan's involvement in terror activities backed by recent events and statements from leading Pakistani public figures at a time when India was working to become a space power” on another hand.

5. The regulator further mentioned that show's basic motive was to showcase how India has moved forward, while Pakistan in the same time has failed and the content was based on evidence that Pakistan was trying to penetrate terrorists, threaten Indian sovereignty and destabilise India.

6. The programme also likened Pakistanis to donkeys and monkeys and referred to them as "Paki”, which Ofcom said is "a racist term that is highly offensive and unacceptable to a UK audience”.

7. Ofcom considered that the hate speech against the Pakistani people should not be broadcasted in the programmes due to increased tensions between the two nations at the time.

8. "Contained statements which amounted to hate speech against, and was abusive and derogatory about, Pakistani people based on their nationality,”Ofcom said.

9. Ofcom further said that they had put the licensee on notice just over two weeks before the broadcast as theystarted receiving complaints about disapproving references to Pakistani people on the service and has since recorded three further breaches of the code against the channel – one relating to broadcasting violence, one relating to derogatory criticisms of the Pakistani community and one relating to giving undue prominence to a commercial brand.

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