[Ofcom imposes £20,000 penalty on Republic TV for ‘highly pejorative’ comments on talk show]
By Hannah
Ellis-Petersen
Republic
TV was fined £20,000 for airing a segment on its UK service, which
conveyed the view that all Pakistani people are terrorists, including “their
scientists, doctors, their leaders, politicians […] Even their sports people”.
The
primetime show Poochta Hai Bharat aired on 6 September 2019 on the
Hindi-language version of the channel, Republic Bharat. The channel was
licensed to broadcast in the UK by Worldview Media Network but the network has
now been banned from airing the show in the UK again.
Republic
TV is one of the most widely watched channels in India, with news anchor and
founder Arnab Goswami hosting aggressive current affairs debates, which
regularly air rightwing and Islamophobic opinions while pointing and shouting
at viewers down the camera. It is known for its fierce allegiance to the ruling
Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) and the prime minister, Narendra Modi.
Ofcom said it had received multiple
complaints from viewers for the “highly pejorative references to members of the
Pakistani community (eg continually referring to them as ‘filthy’)” on
Goswami’s show.
Ofcom found that statements made
during a 35-minute discussion between Goswami and guests included the
description of Pakistani scientists as “thieves” and Pakistani people as
“beggars”. The topic of discussion was India’s recent Chandrayaan-2
mission into space but instead shifted towards the country’s alleged
superiority to its neighbour and longtime adversary Pakistan.
The regulator said the show failed
to comply with UK broadcasting rules as it had “spread, incited, promoted and
justified such intolerance towards Pakistani people among viewers”.
This is the third time Ofcom has
found Republic Bharat in breach of its broadcasting code, after previously
reprimanding the channel for broadcasting graphically violent footage and for
airing “uncontextualised hate speech and abusive and derogatory treatment of
groups”. However, this was the first time Ofcom had issued a fine.
In response to the investigation,
Republic TV had said the show did not feature hate speech but instead included
“figures of speech not intended to be taken literally, which Asian viewers
would have understood clearly”.
