New Delhi: The British television regulatory authority Ofcom imposed a fine of £ 20,000 on Republic Bharat, Republic TV’s Hindi channel, for inciting hatred against Pakistanis on a program aired last year.
Ofcom, which stands for Office of Communications, is the government approved competition and regulatory authority for the UK broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries.
In a detailed note on its decision, Ofcom said that Republic Bharat’s Poochta hai bharat The show, the evening primetime show hosted by Arnab Goswami, had failed to abide by its broadcast rules.
According to Ofcom, one episode, which was shown on September 6, 2019, included “comments made by the host and some of his guests that amounted to hate speech against the Pakistani people and derogatory and abusive treatment of the Pakistani people. The content was also potentially offensive and was not sufficiently justified by the context. “
At the time, the atmosphere was charged with Pakistan’s critical reaction to India taking away Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and dividing the state into two centrally governed UTs. But the regulator did not accept this as an extenuating circumstance.
By the time the episode aired, Ofcom had already notified Republic that it had been receiving several complaints about the content it was broadcasting in relation to “highly pejorative references to members of the Pakistani community (eg, continually referring to them as” disgusting “). ”.
Worldview Media Network Limited, the UK broadcasting licensee of Republic Bharat, will also need to broadcast a statement of Ofcom’s findings and may not repeat the show in the UK.
The program under the scanner was a 35-minute discussion that depended on India’s Chandrayaan mission, but sought to encompass a broader narrative about how India advanced in space science and its neighbor Pakistan did not.
Among the participants were Major Gaurav Arya, Major General KK Sinha, Prem shukla from the BJP, and Omar Inam and Omar Altaf from Pakistan. A third Pakistani guest remained unidentified by Ofcom and, according to the transcript, was largely unable to say a word.
“The Indian host and guests dominated the discussion, and the Pakistani guests tried to respond, but the host and Indian guests yelled at them to a great extent,” says Ofcom’s note.
From the discussion that was often chaotic enough to baffle the transcriber, Ofcom deduced that “statements were made that implied not only that there are threats to the Indian interests and citizens of particular individuals and groups within Pakistan, but that all Pakistanis they represent a terrorist threat to Indians and others ”.
Statements made on the show by guests, including host Goswami, Ofcom said,
He conveyed the view that the entire Pakistani people are terrorists, including that: “their scientists, doctors, leaders, politicians, they are all terrorists. Even his athletes ”; “Every child is a terrorist there. Every child is a terrorist. It is a terrorist entity ”. One guest also described Pakistani scientists as “thieves”, while another described Pakistanis as “beggars”.
The content “spread, incited, promoted and justified such intolerance towards the Pakistani people among viewers,” the body found. As such, he said, the show violated three rules of its Broadcasting Code.
Rule 3.2: “Material containing hate speech must not be included in … television programs … except where the context warrants.”
Rule 3.3: “Material that contains abusive or derogatory treatment of individuals, groups, religions or communities, should not be included in television services … except when the context justifies it.”
Rule 2.3: “In applying generally accepted standards, broadcasters must ensure that the context justifies material that may offend … Such material may include […] Offensive language, […] discriminatory treatment or language (for example, on grounds of […] religion or belief […]). Appropriate information should also be disseminated when it helps prevent or minimize infringement. “
The Code does not prohibit criticism of any country or citizens of that country, Ofcom notes, adding that “such criticism should not lead to pejorative abuse.”
Ofcom Republic Bharat sanction decision by The Wire on Scribd
‘Pakistan has become a word of abuse in the world’
Ofcom’s comments on the program contain detailed transcripts. The body said it had commissioned a Hindi translation of the discussion and has included parts where Republic TV disagrees with the translated versions.
Republic has told Ofcom, in response to the initial notice in February, that while theirs was an “emotionally charged” discussion, the show “did not promote terrorism or hatred and certainly did not promote or justify hatred of no way”. .
However, a close look at the transcript offers a clear picture of the speech register that transcends prejudice and is firmly embedded in the rhetoric of abuse.
One of the excerpts pointed out by Ofcom is that of Major Gaurav Arya when he says:
“Arnab, that the word Pakistan has become a word of abuse in the world… This word has become an abuse. When they carry a green passport, when they carry a green passport to the airport, they have to go through direct registration. Your previous
Prime Minister, the Americans searched him without clothes. Arnab, this is the credibility of the Pakistani passport … Today, the Pakistani word, the Pakistani word, Arnab, is being used as a word of abuse all over the world. And they must know that the Pakistani word does not belong to only one community or nation. It is an abuse now … People use the word Paki, the word Paki is an abuse, if you go anywhere in the United States, or if you go to Europe, when you use the word, it is an abuse. It has become an abuse. They do not know.”
By this, Ofcom notes, Republic meant that the use of “Paki” during the show was not intended as an insult, but rather as a “casual reference to Pakistani nationality.” The channel also tried to impress that it was a harmless term and that “the use of the term had been claimed by the Pakistani people,” a version with which Ofcom disagreed.
Republic also told Ofcom that some of the words it was interpreting as hate speech were “figures of speech that are not meant to be taken literally, which Asian viewers would have clearly understood.”
Among them, there is apparently a line from Prem Shukla, who compares Pakistanis to donkeys.
“Look Arnab, if we talk about science with a donkey, what else will a donkey do than give you a double kick?… Pakistan is a country of donkeys, what do they have to do with rocket science?
The day’s discussion notably put a clear spin on India’s spatial achievement, which Pakistani guests repeatedly tried to highlight, and turned into an open threat of war with Pakistan.
For example, General Sinha said:
“What? You’re an artificial lion. Oh useless people. Beggars. Oh beggars, oh beggars. We’ll drench him with 1.25kg, .75kg-, two inches. PoK, PoK, we got to PoK. We’re coming to Gilgit Baltistan, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa … We are going to come, get ready. The people of your country are trembling with fear that the Indian army will come, that the Indian army will come. his area, in Multan, in Rawalpindi and we will kill him. From Lahore, from Karachi to Gilgit-Baltistan, when we will have control. “
Recidivist
In its order, Ofcom has also listed examples of other financial penalties it has imposed for violations of the Code. These include fines imposed on religiously oriented programs (Christian and Islamic) that spread hatred against homosexuals and Jews.
Two of those cases cited by Ofcom were related to Peace TV, the broadcast channel of Malaysian-based preacher Zakir Naik, who is wanted in India.
In the first case, Peace TV had stated that Islamic teachings said that the only acceptable Islamic punishment for leaving the fold should be death. Ofcom had described it as “hate speech without textualization” but did not impose a legal penalty as the channel had taken steps to comply with the Code.
Ofcom imposed a £ 100,000 fine on Peace TV for another program in which an imam carried out a “sustained attack on homosexuality that was not featured with any reference to religious scripture and was expressed in a way that was gratuitously and repeatedly abusive “.
Incidentally, the UK licensee of Republic Bharat had argued that its case was “in fact analogous” to the first case of non-compliance by Peace TV and should be treated that way. However, Ofcom disagreed, stating that “size and turnover is a relevant factor when considering the penalty.”
This was not the first time that Ofcom had spoken out about Republic Bharat programs.
In January this year, the regulatory body ruled that “graphic footage” from a traffic accident in Gorakhpur had violated the Broadcasting Code guidelines on the use of violent material that could affect children.
A month later, the channel was found to be in violation of Rule 9.5 of the Broadcasting Code when the logo of a financial exchange distributor was displayed on the laptop of two presenters of a program, Bullet 100. In the same month, February 2020 , Ofcom had published the first ruling in Arnab Goswami’s prime-time debate on September 6, 2019, which had found him guilty of violating section 3 of the Broadcasting Code. The regulatory body had also stated that it was contemplating a fine.
“In this case, we consider the uncontextualized hate speech and the abusive and derogatory treatment of groups and communities to be serious. We are notifying the Licensee that we are willing to consider these breaches for the imposition of a legal sanction ”.
Three months later, Ofcom again accused Republic Bharat of violating the Code. In the ruling, Ofcom noted: “We were also concerned that the presenter did not seek to question or contextualize any of the critical statements made by the Indian guests. Instead, he encouraged these panelists and supported their views. We feel this compounded the impact of his own disparaging and abusive statements during the show. “
However, he did not mention any sanctions in this order.
.
