Video had no Pakistan Zindabad slogan': Zee News producer quits for tampering

[email protected] (Indian Express)
February 21, 2016

New Delhi, Feb 22: A producer with Zee News has resigned from the TV channel after expressing reservations over its “biased coverage” of the JNU protests and the sedition charge against the university's students union leader.

ZeeNews

Vishwa Deepak, an output producer, was part of the team that produced a Zee News show on the night of February 9, when alleged anti-India slogans were raised in the JNU campus during a protest against Parliament convict Afzal Guru's hanging.

Footage telecast on Zee News formed the basis of the Delhi police's suo motu FIR on the incident following which JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested.

In a letter to Zee News on Sunday, Deepak stated that the channel had broadcast a video of students raising slogans with a caption that said Pakistan Zindabad'. “The video which had no “Pakistan Zindabad” slogans in it, we played repeatedly to spread madness. How did we establish that Kanhaiya and his associates were chanting slogans when all we heard were voices coming from the darkness. Our biases made us hear Bhartiya Court Zindabad as Pakistan Zindabad,” stated his letter.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Deepak said Zee News aired footage of students chanting Pakistan Zindabad' repeatedly, but it did not have any such slogans in it. “We heard inaudible slogans from the grainy video. Editors at Zee News felt this sounded like Pakistan Zindabad' and that's the caption we went with,” he said.

Deepak said he scripted shows and edited footage at Zee News. He added that he had worked on the footage of the Afzal Guru event recorded on February 9 in JNU where reporter Pawan Nara was present, recording the event.

Deepak said he received the footage on February 10 and was told to work on it for a show that day.

“On February 10, I was on the morning shift, which comprised a shift head, two second shift heads, three or four producers of which I was one, two or three package producers, and two or three video editors,” said Deepak.

“At the editorial meet that afternoon, a producer was given the video footage and told to work on it because it was a big story'. The producer brought the video to me and I watched it and heard it. The video was grainy and there was a lot of sloganeering but most of which was not clearly audible. I heard Bhartiya Court Zindabad',” he said.

According to Deepak, the producer showed the video to other “responsible” colleagues but none were able to clearly make out the words being chanted.

“Then our editors came down to our section and told us it was a big story, it had to go on air and that Pakistan Zindabad' could be heard. So we all agreed because the editors and other colleagues felt it was Pakistan Zindabad' that was being chanted. We began to produce the show and because the audio was not clear, we added a bubble or blurb with Pakistan Zindabad' written in it to guide our viewers on what we felt was being chanted,” said Deepak.

A graduate of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Delhi, Deepak said he worked first as a freelancer contributing to Jansatta and Sanskar. He also worked with news channels News 24, AajTak, News Nation and joined Zee News as a producer in 2014. Deepak has also contributed to BBC Hindi.

When contacted, Zee News Editor Sudhir Chowdhary said Deepak's resignation was an internal matter of the organisation. “Zee media is one of the largest media houses in the country. People leaving and recruitments being done is a normal affair. In any case, the person concerned was not involved in any stories related to the JNU row. He never discussed any issues with anybody in the organisation if he had any. His resignation is an internal matter of the organisation,” said Chowdhary in a text message.

Chowdhary did not respond to questions about Deepak's claims of how the caption Pakistan Zindabad' was added to the footage.

The Indian Express had reported on Saturday that police had asked Zee News for the original camera and memory chip of its telecast of the February 9 event. The request had come just days after questions were raised over the authenticity of another video that was broadcast on other TV news channels and went viral on social media.

The Zee News footage also found mention in an Aam Aadmi Party complaint to Special Commissioner of Police (law and order) Deepak Mishra. The AAP had alleged that students raising slogans of Pakistan Zindabad' were from the ABVP.

JNU ABVP president Alok Singh had earlier said that some ABVP members were present at JNU on February 9, but were shouting slogans like Bharatiya Court Zindabad' and Indian Army Zindabad'. The ABVP also filed a counter complaint with police saying that the footage had been tampered with.

Last week, Chowdhary had said that he stood by the footage aired on Zee News. “The slogans are very clear for anybody to hear. We stand by the footage that was aired on Zee News. We have handed over all the raw footage to the Delhi police,” he had said.

Comments

123
 - 
Monday, 22 Feb 2016

Cheddi Media - They are keeping their Eyes closed and still thinks people are sleeping to their deception.

Mani
 - 
Monday, 22 Feb 2016

Ab Aya oont pahad ke neeche

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coastaldigest.com web desk
July 6,2020

Wayanad, Jul 6: DM Education and Research Foundation (DMERF), headed by Dr Azad Moopen, has come forward to handover DM WIMS Medical College, Nursing and Pharmacy Colleges and its associated institutions in Wayanad to the Kerala Government. 

According to Azad Moopen, Managing Trustee, DMERF, the Kerala Government has been deliberating to set up a medical college in the area over the last 7-8 years to address the challenges being faced by the local population due to lack of local availability of advanced healthcare facilities under the government sector. 

The handover by DMERF would address the Government's need. DM WIMS is one of the few NABH accredited medical colleges in the country, he said.

The DM WIMS Medical College and its associated institutions were established by the DMERF Trust 10 years ago to help the backward community of the district. 

Run in a charitable manner, the medical college has a capacity of 150 seats and has seen two batches of doctors graduate from the institution. With a total built up area of 14 lakh sq feet, it also has a 700-bed super-specialty hospital catering to the local community and helping in training healthcare professionals, a 100-bed specialty hospital, a pharmacy college, and a nursing college.

A new medical college by the government will require substantial investments and minimum of 5 years to become functional. “We think that DM WIMS can cater to the requirement of the government and setting up another medical college might not be required to cater to the existing population,” he said.

Moopen also announced a donation of Rs 250 crore out of the total investment in the institutions to the government to provide treatment to the needy population in the backward, landlocked district and to train good quality doctors from the State.

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News Network
January 10,2020

Mangaluru, Jan 10: Two members of a notorious honey-trap gang that used to lure rich men using women and then extort money from them by staging fake police raid have been arrested by the Dakshina Kannada district police.

Lohith, a resident of Kushalnagara, and Sharif from Vittal, were arrested in connection with a honey-trap case registered in Uppinangady police station. Jamal, Jeevan and Naushad, who were also involved in the case, are absconding.

Police said they received information that a few people under the guise of being Kerala police, were planning to raid a resort near Uppinangady where two couples were staying.

They were informed that they would threaten and try to extort money from them. The police were tipped off about the same by their counterparts in Kerala.

Police said the accused are experts in setting honeytraps, and were involved in similar crimes since a long time. Their modus operandi was to use two women from Mangaluru to lure their intended targets.

Once they trap their target, the woman and victim are sent to resorts. They then raid the resort posing as police officials, and click pictures in compromising positions of the victim with the woman.

They threaten to release the pictures on social media or TV channels, if they fail to pay up.

Police said the accused demanded Rs 10 lakh from each victim, but they denied to pay up. Irked by this, the accused took away the victims’ belongings such as phone, money and car.

The victims who believed that the accused were police personnel, asked them to take them to the police station. Instead of taking them to the police, the accused took them to a secluded place, where they claimed that they were putting the victims under house arrest. Police have seized an SUV from the accused.

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Agencies
June 26,2020

New Delhi, Jun 26: With looming uncertainty and no likelihood of an early economic recovery in sight, the bull run in gold prices is here to stay. Analysts expect domestic futures to touch ₹ 52,000 per 10 grams in the next few months, till Diwali.

Experts also predict that with the current trend, gold may reach historic levels around ₹ 65,000 per 10 grams in two years time.

Futures of the yellow metal have touched new highs in India off late. On Wednesday, the August contract of gold futures on the Multi-Commodity Exchange (MCX) touched an all-time high of Rs 48,589 per 10 grams.

It has, however corrected since and is currently trading at ₹ 48,057 on the MCX, higher by ₹ 116 or 0.24 per cent from its previous close.

Market experts are of the view that both domestic and international gold prices are yet not done breaching records and will touch new highs in days to come.

The resurgence in the number of new cases of coronavirus infection across the globe has added to the uncertainty and fears.

Speaking to media persons, Anuj Gupta, DVP for Commodities and Currencies Research at Angel Broking, noted: "In short term we are expecting it to reach ₹ 48,800-49,000 and for long term, we are expecting ₹ 51,000-Rs 52,000 till Diwali."

On the prices in the international market, he said that it may reach around $1,790 per ounce in the near term from the current levels of $1,762 and the long term, it is likely to be around $1,820-1,850 per ounce.

Gupta noted that with International Monetary Fund's (IMF) latest downward revision of economic outlook, both global and of India, and the rising number of cases and high demand by gold exchange traded funds (ETF) have led to this record breaking rise in gold prices.

Covid-19 battered India's economy is projected to contract by 4.5 per cent this fiscal, according to the IMF and the global output is projected to decline by 4.9 per cent in 2020, 1.9 percentage points below the IMF's April forecast.

Hareesh V, Head of Commodity Research at Geojit Financial Services, said that gold's safe haven appeal will remain on the higher side as there is little hope of a quick global economic recovery amid rising virus cases across the world.

"Increased geopolitical instability and an under-performing dollar also lift the metal's sentiments," he added.

According to Prathamesh Mallya, AVP Research, Non-Agro Commodities & Currencies at Angel Broking, said that with the global output to contract and the economies in a deeper recession than most anticipate, gold as an asset class is a safe bet for investors across the globe.

"Although, the physical demand has declined drastically due to the restrictions and lockdowns, the activity of global central banks and their net purchases of gold signal that uncertainty will continue for most of 2020," he said.

He was also of the view that in the international market price of the metal may move towards $1,850 per ounce and in the domestic market it is likely to move higher towards Rs 50,000 per 10 grams.

"The investment demand as seen in the net additions of ETF holdings also signals that gold will shine for a much longer time even if the pandemic is under control. Till then, keep buying gold, if not in physical form, but in digital form," Mallya added.

Industry insiders like Aditya Pethe, Director, WHP Jewellers said: "I basically feel that the current trend for the gold is bullish and for the coming next 2 years, it is likely to move upwards. No one can predict the exact price as currently the trend is on rise but it might change after 6 months. In general for the coming 6 months to one year, the gold prices are likely to cross $2,000 which comes to roughly Rs 55,000. For a temporary moment it may reduce, basically fluctuate as well but overall trend of gold is going to be bullish."

On his part, Ishu Datwani, Founder, Anmol Jewellers said: "Yes - it's very likely that the gold price could easily go up to Rs 60,000-Rs 65,000 in the next two years. There is also a possibility of it going up even more."

"A lot of banks have been buying gold and there is also a possibility that the Indian rupee will depreciate against the dollar. This and geopolitical reasons will cause bullishness in gold."

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