Context

2 notoriously Islamophobic Indian news stations falsely smeared MPACUK as Hinduphobic defenders of grooming gangs, simply for criticising Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

 

In a coordinated attack, ZeeNews and AajTak both ran a news story in the same evening, trying to stoke Hindu-Muslim tensions by suggesting that Muslim organisations like MPACUK target Sunak because of his Hindu faith. With attacks like these, they try to shut down fair criticism by UK citizens of our own politicians!

 

But it doesn’t end there: ZeeNews and AajTak are known to broadcast false stories that inflame Islamophobia in India and abroad. We must push back against their lies by reporting them to Ofcom, or else their inflammatory style of ‘reporting’ against Muslims will become the acceptable norm.

If you want to protect your rights and campaign against Islamophobia, volunteer with MPACUK

ACT NOW

Step 1: Go to the Ofcom complaints site here – https://ofcomforms.secure.force.com/formentry/SitesFormCSLEStandardsComplaints

 

Step 2: Fill out the complaints form for ZeeNews-

Programme title – Daily News

Date of broadcast – 2nd November 2022

Time of broadcast – [Leave blank]

Channel / station – ZeeNews

Subject – Inaccurate smears against MPACUK, to silence fair criticism of Rishi Sunak

Description – [use some or all of the Key Points below]

Don’t forget to fill ‘Your Details’ accurately

 

Step 3: Fill out the complaints form for AajTak, changing these details-

Programme title – Daily News

Channel / station – AajTak

Step 4: Join the campaign, and join MPACUK: bit.ly/volunteer-MPACUK

Key points

For the ZeeNews complaint:

• Their news item can be seen here: https://youtu.be/FUGpSDX84jY
• ZeeNews insinuates immediately that MPACUK dislikes UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for his Hindu faith. This claim is not supported by any quotes they present in their piece.
• Later in the same piece, ZeeNews implies that MPACUK is only criticising Sunak as a reaction to his determination to clamp down on grooming gangs which involve some ethnic Pakistanis. Again, a baseless claim unsupported by any quotes from MPACUK.
• Lastly, at the end of their provocative piece ZeeNews claims that it is MPACUK that intends to provoke Muslims by being prepared for elections. As any other citizen in a democracy, UK Muslims have the right to participate in elections and there is nothing provocative in telling them to prepare.
• In these broadcasts, ZeeNews has violated multiple policies in the Ofcom Broadcasting Code. By misrepresenting MPACUK’s views inaccurately, they violated clauses 5.1, 5.7, 7.1 and 7.8; their partiality violates clauses 5.1, 5.5, 5.10, 5.11 and 5.12; by failing to contact MPACUK before broadcast, they violated clauses 7.9, 7.11 and 7.13.
  
• In conclusion, this is another case of ZeeNews peddling inflammatory stories that should not be aired on UK television. We have already seen in Leicester that such false reporting is a real threat for social cohesion, and ZeeNews must be penalised for its inaccurate reporting.

> For the AajTak complaint:

• Their news item can be seen here: https://youtu.be/apYUmU9Umjk
• AajTak insinuates immediately that MPACUK dislikes UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for his Hindu faith. This claim is not supported by any quotes they present in their piece.
• Later in the same piece, AajTak implies that MPACUK is only criticising Sunak as a reaction to his determination to clamp down on grooming gangs which involve some ethnic Pakistanis. Again, a baseless claim unsupported by any quotes from MPACUK.
• In these broadcasts, AajTak has violated multiple policies in the Ofcom Broadcasting Code. By misrepresenting MPACUK’s views inaccurately, they violated clauses 5.1, 5.7, 7.1 and 7.8; their partiality violates clauses 5.1, 5.5, 5.10, 5.11 and 5.12; by failing to contact MPACUK before broadcast, they violated clauses 7.9, 7.11 and 7.13.
• In conclusion, this is another case of AajTak peddling inflammatory stories that should not be aired on UK television. We have already seen in Leicester that such false reporting is a real threat for social cohesion, and AajTak must be penalised for its inaccurate reporting.