The News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA) pulled up Sudhir Chaudhary for making disrespectful remarks about the LGBTQIA+ community and the Supreme Court during his TV shows. NBDSA ordered Aaj Tak and India Today to edit two clips and delete one video entirely. It criticized Chaudhary for spreading homophobia and violating ethical guidelines in his coverage of the same-sex marriage case. The watchdog also warned him to show more maturity in future broadcasts and comply with journalistic standards.
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NEW DELHI: The News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA) strongly criticized TV news anchor Sudhir Chaudhary for making disrespectful comments about the LGBTQIA+ community and the Supreme Court while reporting on the same-sex marriage case.
NBDSA has directed the channels Aaj Tak and India Today to edit two clips of Sudhir Chaudhary’s shows to remove such inappropriate content and completely take down one clip.
This decision was made after four complaints were received regarding these broadcasts.
The complaints were filed by Indrajeet Ghorpade and Utkarsh Mishra, who objected to three programs hosted by Sudhir Chaudhary—two aired on Aaj Tak and one on India Today.
After reviewing the issue, NBDSA Chairperson Justice (retired) AK Sikri found that several comments made by Sudhir Chaudhary in his show “Black and White” on Aaj Tak in April 2023 were in bad taste.
NBDSA pointed out that Chaudhary violated ethical guidelines that require news anchors to be neutral and impartial. He also broke the guidelines against hate speech.
“The manner in which the anchor portrayed the community in the impugned programme violates the dignity of the LGBTQIA+ people to say the least,”
-the NBDSA’s order dated January 24 stated.
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In the program, Sudhir Chaudhary had claimed that LGBTQ+ marriage is a Western issue. The complainants argued that he attempted to spread homophobia among parents by showing an AI-generated image of a person who was half bride and half groom, and asking viewers to imagine if their child brought home someone like that.
NBDSA strongly objected to these remarks.
“A well-informed person like the anchor, that too of a national channel, is supposed to respect those rights (rights of the LGBTQ+ persons) which even the law recognises. In this context, it has to be emphasised that even the persons belonging to this community are to be treated as normal human beings and, more importantly, with due dignity,”
-NBDSA stated.
Because of this, NBDSA directed Aaj Tak to completely remove the video of this broadcast from its website and YouTube channel, and delete all related web links within seven days.
Regarding the other programs, NBDSA advised Sudhir Chaudhary to show more maturity in his future reporting.
This was because NBDSA also found that Chaudhary had made misleading statements against the Supreme Court and former Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud, who was among the judges deciding on the same-sex marriage case.
The controversy also included an episode of Seedhi Baat aired on April 22, 2023, on Aaj Tak, where Chaudhary interviewed former Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, as well as another discussion on India Today Roundtable Karnataka on April 22, 2023, where he interviewed Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
NBDSA remarked:
“Some of the utterances/remarks of the anchor during the said interview were not in good taste and could have been easily avoided.”
NBDSA clarified that there would not have been an issue if the discussion had remained focused on the topic of same-sex marriage. However, it found that Chaudhary went beyond the issue and violated guidelines for court reporting.
One of the problematic statements made by Sudhir Chaudhary was:
“Ye desh kisi ke baap ka nahi hai aur kuch log isse chalane ki koshish kar rahe hai”
(Translation: “This country does not belong to anyone’s father and some people are trying to run it”)
He made this comment while referring to Ex–CJI Chandrachud.
Because of this, NBDSA ordered Aaj Tak and India Today to edit out these derogatory remarks from their clips.
NBDSA concluded:
“The NBDSA closes this complaint with an advisory to the anchor to show more maturity in future while conducting such programmes. NBDSA further directs the broadcaster to edit the video of the said broadcast by removing the aforesaid portions within 7 days of the Order.”
Click Here to Read Previous Reports on Sudhir Chaudhary
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