News, you learn in journalism schools, is information that has been verified. It has been checked, cross-checked, and then published or broadcast.
But Zee News, which is India’s leading news channel, broadcast a sting this evening that was based on a tape whose “credibility” was untested, and unverified.
The sting was proclaimed to be the “Kejriwal pe sabse bada khulasa” (Biggest revelation about Kejriwal).”
It was no doubt a scoop, and could not have come at a better time. Its broadcast gave Zee News an edge over its rivals on a day when charges and counter-charges levelled by AAP leaders were flying thick and fast.
The AAP infighting had peaked, and a split seemed imminent.
The question is: How credible was the sting?
Zee News itself took pains to repeatedly state that:
Zee News is audio ki satyata ki pushti nahi karta ( Zee News does not attest the validity of this audio)
If this was so, then why was it broadcasting the audio?
The tape, according to Zee News, was a phone conversation between Arvind Kejriwal and Umesh Singh, an AAP leader, who had played an important role in Kejriwal’s campaign in Varanasi.
The recording happened on March 22. You could hear the speaker, who Zee News identified as Umesh Singh, pleading with Kejriwal to work together in the interest of the party.
You also heard “Kejriwal’s” response. The question is:
- Was it Kejriwal’s voice?
- Or was someone imitating Kejriwal?
- Was the tape edited?
- Were offensive comments inserted in the tape?
- Was it spliced by a smart technican?
More important, who gave the tape to Zee News?
There is little doubt that the tape was meant to malign the image of Kejriwal, to establish that it is Kejriwal who is responsible for the AAP crisis.
It was even more puzzling to hear a senior editor commenting upon the tape’s contents, though the veracity of those contents were not established.
You wondered why was the editor giving legitimacy to these comments?
Only Zee News can answer this question. By broadcasting the tape it has put its own reputation at risk.