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| Times Now put out a public note describing The Wire allegation as completely false |
February 19, 2016, NewsCrunch
Times Now took an unusual step of demanding a clarification from Siddharth Varadarajan of The Wire on his charge that it had aired a doctored video of JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar.
A video, which had gone viral, shows Kanhaiya shouting pro-Kashmir independence slogans. Though it was later found to be doctored, several TV channels had rushed to telecast it.
Siddharth Varadarajan, the founding editor of The Wire wrote a piece on Thursday night, It is Time to Stand Up and Be Counted, defending Kanhaiya as a committed activist. He also named and slammed the partisan TV channels which had aired the doctored clip without verification, and which contributed to Kanhaiya facing the serious sedition charge.
Times Now took an unusual step of demanding a clarification from Siddharth Varadarajan of The Wire on his charge that it had aired a doctored video of JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar.
A video, which had gone viral, shows Kanhaiya shouting pro-Kashmir independence slogans. Though it was later found to be doctored, several TV channels had rushed to telecast it.
Siddharth Varadarajan, the founding editor of The Wire wrote a piece on Thursday night, It is Time to Stand Up and Be Counted, defending Kanhaiya as a committed activist. He also named and slammed the partisan TV channels which had aired the doctored clip without verification, and which contributed to Kanhaiya facing the serious sedition charge.
Siddharth Varadarajan noted that Kanhaiya’s call for azadi from bhukhmari, samantvad and sanghvad had been cleverly converted into a call for Kashmir ’s azadi.
He urged the Supreme Court to set up a probe “…to root out the criminals who fabricated this “evidence” and put it into circulation.” He also condemned the erring TV channels as a disgrace to journalism.
Siddharth Varadarajan slipped a little in including Times Now in the list of channels that had aired the doctored rape.
On Friday evening, Times Now put out a public note describing the allegation as completely false and demanded a prominent clarification and an apology for false reporting.
It noted that Arnab Goswami had told a BJP panelist that the video needs to be verified.
In response Siddharth Varadarajan, wrote:
In an earlier version of this article, Times Now was listed as one of the channels that broadcast the doctored tape of Kanhaiya Kumar.
The channel’s head, Arnab Goswami has clarified that a BJP spokesman, Sambit Patra, sought to play the clip on his iPad during a debate but was not allowed to as the clip was not verified, and the clip was never played on the channel.
In an earlier version of this article, Times Now was listed as one of the channels that broadcast the doctored tape of Kanhaiya Kumar.
The channel’s head, Arnab Goswami has clarified that a BJP spokesman, Sambit Patra, sought to play the clip on his iPad during a debate but was not allowed to as the clip was not verified, and the clip was never played on the channel.
The report by @svaradarajan accusing @TimesNow of airing doctored footage is factually incorrect pic.twitter.com/3QoHOQZxm5
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) February 19, 2016