Times Now

Last updated

Times Now
Country India
Broadcast areaWorldwide
Headquarters Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Programming
Language(s)English
Picture format 4:3 (576i, SDTV)
16:9 (1080i, HDTV)
Ownership
Owner The Times Group
Sister channels Times Now Navbharat
Zoom
ET Now
Movies Now
Romedy Now
MN+
MNX
Mirror Now
ET Now Swadesh
History
Launched23 January 2006;18 years ago (2006-01-23)
Links
Website www.timesnownews.com
Availability
Terrestrial
Fetch TV (Australia)719
Streaming media
Live Stream Watch Live
Live Stream on ZengaTV Watch Live

Times Now is an English-language news channel in India owned and operated by The Times Group. The channel launched on 23 January 2006 in partnership with Reuters. [1] [2]

Contents

It is a pay television throughout India. Until 2016, it was India's most popular and the most viewed English news channel. [3] [4] [5]

Times Now has been criticised for reporting misinformation. [6] [7]

History

In 2016 Arnab Goswami (the earlier editor-in-chief) left the channel to launch Republic TV. [8]

Times India eventually expanded the Times Now into a news network:

ChannelLanguageGenre
Times Now English News
Times Now World
Mirror Now
ET Now
Times Now NavBharat Hindi
ET Now Swadesh

Distribution

Along with the other Times group channels (Zoom, ET Now and Movies Now), Times Now is distributed by Media Network and Distribution (India) Ltd (MNDIL), which is a joint venture between The Times Group and Yogesh Radhakrishnan, a cable and satellite industry veteran, under the brand Prime Connect. [9]

Employees

Lawsuits

On 15 November 2011, in the country's highest defamation suit, the Supreme Court upheld the Bombay High Court's order requiring Times Now to pay ₹100 crore. The channel had erroneously run the picture of Supreme Court judge P.B. Sawant picture instead of someone similarly named as part of a Provident Fund scandal, and the payment went directly to Sawant. [13]

In 2018, Times Now aired derogatory remarks about activist Sanjukta Basu. She filed a complaint with the News Broadcasting Standards Authority in March 2019. In October 2020, she moved Supreme Court claiming that her case was pending with NBSA. Before the case could be listed for hearing in the Supreme court, NBSA released the judgement on her complaint. NBSA ordered Times Now to air apology on live TV at 8PM and 9PM during the prime time and submit DVD copies of the same. NBSA found that Times Now had not contacted Basu to get her version and failed to verify the facts before broadcasting. This conduct was judged to be a violation of NBSA guidelines. The NBSA order noted that "there was an absence of neutrality in the programme". [14]

Violation of Code of Ethics and Broadcasting Standards

Times Now was accused of misrepresenting facts regarding an interview of an alleged eve teaser. [15] The News Broadcasting Standards Authority asked Times Now to apologize and fined them ₹50,000. [16] [17] [18] [19]

The National Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) reprimanded the channel for a bias in their coverage of the Tablighi Jamaat congregation on 23 June 2016 for violating the Code of Ethics and Broadcasting Standards. [20] [21]

2020 Delhi riots

In 2021, the National Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA) found that debates by two Times Now anchors – Rahul Shivshankar and Padmaja Joshi on the topic 2020 Delhi riots were not conducted in an "impartial and objective manner". NBDSA found that the anchors had "violated the Fundamental Principles as enumerated in the Code of Ethics and Broadcasting Standards and various Guidelines issued by NBDSA". In his order NBDSA chairperson Justice (retired) A.K. Sikri directed Times Now to take down videos of from YouTube and websites. NBDSA had ordered this responding to the complaint filed against Shivshankar accusing him of selectively showing the observations of the courts and the police to make it appear as if the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protestors were responsible for the religious violence. The order quoted, "The coverage was done to target a community that is critical of the Delhi Police's investigation and project them and their critique in a negative light, thereby unduly hindering the right of the viewer to have a fact based view on the matter and amounted to a sustained campaign to challenge a position, without intimating to the viewers what that position is in its entirety or allowing panellists to explain the same". [22]

Reception

The channel is accused of practicing biased reporting in favour of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). [23] [24] [25] [26]

Alt News accused Times Now in 2018 of repeatedly reporting "unverified claims, distorted facts and plain lies", including taking video clips out of context. [6] In 2022, Alt News wrote that they found Times Now to be one of the most prominent sharers of misinformation in the Indian media that year. [7]

According to a 2022 BBC News article, several Indian news anchors including Times Now's Shivshankar are known to shout down their panelists and ranting during their show, and have been accused of bias towards India's governing party, Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. [27]

In 2020, Newslaundry reported that Shivshankar had used several dog whistles to negatively portray the Indian Muslims. [28]

On 6 September 2021, Times Now was criticised for a report using video that suggested a Pakistan Air Force jet was hovering over Afghanistan's Panjshir Valley. The video was soon revealed to be a United States Air Force F-15 jet filmed by a YouTube airplane enthusiast in Wales filming the jet within the Mach Loop three months before. [29]

See also

Related Research Articles

Mass media in India consists of several different means of communication: television, radio, cinema, newspapers, magazines, and Internet-based websites/portals. Indian media was active since the late 18th century. The print media started in India as early as 1780. Radio broadcasting began in 1927. Today much of the media is controlled by large, corporations, which reap revenue from advertising, subscriptions, and sale of copyrighted material.

<i>Aaj Tak</i> Hindi news channel

Aaj Tak is a Hindi-language news channel owned by the TV Today Network, a part of the New Delhi-based media conglomerate Living Media group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smriti Irani</span> Indian politician and former actress

Smriti Zubin Irani is an Indian politician and former actress, fashion model and television producer. She was Minister of WCD from 2019 to 2024, and also Minister of MA from 2022 to 2024. She previously served as Minister of HRD, Minister of Textiles, and Minister of IB. She was the youngest minister in prime minister Narendra Modi's second ministry in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">India Today (TV channel)</span> Indian English news channel

India Today is a 24-hour English language television news channel based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh that carries news, current affairs and business programming in India. The channel is owned by TV Today Network Ltd, which is a part of Living Media.

Network18 Group, is an Indian media conglomerate, based in Mumbai. It is owned by Reliance Industries. Rahul Joshi is the managing director, chief executive officer and group editor-in-chief of Network18 Group, and Adil Zainulbhai is the chairman of its board of directors.

Asian News International (ANI) is an Indian news agency that offers syndicated multimedia news feeds to news bureaus in India. The company was established by Prem Prakash in 1971 and, under the name TVNF, it soon became the first agency in India to syndicate video news. Drawing upon connections within the Indian government, ANI expanded greatly during the early 2000s. After a period of downturn, the company regained its monopolistic position; as of 2019, it is India's largest television news agency, and as of 2024, the largest newswire service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zee News</span> News channel of Zee Media

Zee News is an Indian Hindi-language right-wing news channel owned by Subhash Chandra's Essel Group. It launched on 27 August 1999 and is the flagship channel of the Zee Media Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arnab Goswami</span> Indian journalist and television news anchor

Arnab Ranjan Goswami is an Indian news anchor and journalist. He is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Republic Media Network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asianet Suvarna News</span> Indian Kannada-language television news channel

Asianet Suvarna News is a Kannada news channel owned by Asianet News Network, a news media subsidiary of Jupiter Capital Private Limited. The majority shareholder of the company is Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who is a Rajya Sabha member from the Bharatiya Janata Party. Launched on 31 March 2008, the channel was the third news channel to be aired in the Kannada language. The channel has telecast fabricated news and social media hoaxes on various occasions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">News Broadcasters & Digital Association</span> Organisation of the Indian news broadcasters

The News Broadcasters and Digital Association (NBDA) formerly known as the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) is a private association of different current affairs and news television broadcasters in India. It was established by Indian news broadcasters on 3 July 2007. The Association was set up to deal with ethical, operational, regulatory, technical and legal issues affecting news and current affairs channels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sudhir Chaudhary (journalist)</span> Indian journalist

Sudhir Chaudhary is an Indian journalist. He is a consulting editor at the Hindi news channel Aaj Tak and hosts the show Black & White. He was formerly the editor-in-chief and CEO of Zee News, WION, Zee Business, Zee 24 Taas and hosted the prime-time show Daily News & Analysis (DNA) on Zee News.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sudarshan News</span> Indian Hindi language news channel

Sudarshan News is an Indian right-wing news channel. It was founded in 2005 by Suresh Chavhanke, the chairman and editor-in-chief. Chavhanke was a long-term volunteer of the Hindu nationalist organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), also associating with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student wing of RSS. He asserts that he practices ideology-driven journalism and prefers that the news programs on his channel be viewed as opinionated campaigns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rohit Sardana</span> Indian journalist and media personality (1979–2021)

Rohit Sardana was an Indian anchor, journalist, and editor. He had hosted Taal Thok Ke, a debate programme of Zee News before leaving for Aaj Tak in 2017, where he anchored the prime time show Dangal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rahul Shivshankar</span> Indian journalist and television news anchor

Rahul Shivshankar is an indian journalist and an Indian TV anchor who worked as the editor-in-chief at Times Now. Before joining Times Now, Shivshankar worked in print and TV journalism. He has anchored five shows and has served as the Senior News Editor at Times Now (2005). Shivshankar worked very briefly with Headlines Today as the executive editor. He hosts the debate show India Upfront. He recently moved to CNN-News18

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Republic TV</span> Indian TV news channel

Republic TV is an Indian right-wing conservative English-language news channel launched in May 2017. It was co-founded by Arnab Goswami and Rajeev Chandrasekhar, before the latter relinquished his stake in May 2019, leaving Goswami as the majority stakeholder. Chandrasekhar was an independent legislator from the National Democratic Alliance who later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Goswami was the former editor-in-chief of Times Now. The venture was funded primarily by Chandrashekhar through his company Jupiter Capital Private Limited.

Zee Bharat is an Indian Hindi-language television news channel, owned by Zee Media. It was first launched as Zee News Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh in 2006 and in 2013, it was rebranded as Zee Sangam. In 2016, the channel was again rebranded as India 24×7, and in 2017 as Zee Hindustan, under the leadership of the then-CEO of Zee Media's regional news division, Jagdish Chandra.

Republic Bharat is a free-to-air Indian Hindi-language news channel affiliation of Republic TV, launched on 2 February 2019, operated and owned by Republic Media Network, co-founded by Arnab Goswami and Rajeev Chandrasekhar. It is also available on DD Free Dish. It is a sister channel of Republic World which broadcasts news primarily in English.

<i>OpIndia</i> Indian far-right pro-Hindutva news portal

OpIndia is an Indian far-right news website known for frequently publishing misinformation. Founded in December 2014, the website has published fake news and Islamophobic commentary on many occasions.

Newslaundry is an Indian media watchdog that provides media critique, reportage and satirical commentary. It was founded in 2012 by Abhinandan Sekhri, Madhu Trehan and Prashant Sareen, all of whom earlier worked in print or television journalism. It was India's first subscription-driven website when launched, and since then other platforms have followed a similar model. In contrast to news websites such as The Wire, The Quint, ThePrint or Scroll.in, Newslaundry solely relies on public subscriptions, instead of donations or advertisements, for revenue.

Godi media (Hindi pronunciation:[ɡoːdiː]; lit.'media sitting on lap'; idiomatic equivalent: 'lapdog media'; is a term coined and popularised by veteran Indian journalist Ravish Kumar for "sensationalist and biased Indian print and TV news media, which openly supports the ruling NDA government ". The term is a pun on the name of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and has become a common way to refer to television and other media that are perceived as "mouthpieces" of the leading party of the NDA, the Bharatiya Janata Party.

References

  1. Daya Kishan Thussu (9 January 2008). News as Entertainment: The Rise of Global Infotainment. SAGE Publications. pp. 100–. ISBN   978-1-84787-506-8. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  2. Chandran, Bipin (14 June 2013). "Reuters to pay $19 mn for 26% in Times Now". Bipin Chandran. Business Standard. Archived from the original on 15 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  3. Maheshwari, Pradyuman (6 February 2016). "Can any English news channel beat the just turned 10 Times Now?". Pradyuman Maheshwari. The Hindu. Archived from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  4. Boria Majumdar; Nalin Mehta (7 May 2009). India and the Olympics. Routledge. pp. 9–. ISBN   978-1-135-27575-4. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  5. "India's Times Now news channel to launch in UK". James Crabtre. Financial Times. 15 November 2015. Archived from the original on 16 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  6. 1 2 Jawed, Sam (13 February 2018). "A compilation of Times Now's experiments with untruth". Alt News.
  7. 1 2 Team, N. L. (4 January 2023). "Among media outlets, Times Group, Zee shared most misinformation in 2022: Alt News". Newslaundry. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
  8. Dingdong Contest between DD India and Republic TV in English News Genre Archived 13 May 2019 at the Wayback Machine , Television India
  9. "BCCL floats TV distribution joint venture". The Times of India . Archived from the original on 14 January 2014.
  10. "Rahul Shivshankar appointed as Chief Editor of TIMES NOW". The Economic Times. 16 December 2016. Archived from the original on 14 April 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
  11. "Navika Kumar appointed Times Network Group editor". 📢 Newslaundry. 19 February 2020. Archived from the original on 23 February 2020. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  12. "Times Now censured for not revealing defence analyst's business interests". indianexpress.com. Archived from the original on 6 April 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  13. "SC asks Times Now to deposit Rs 100 crore before HC takes up its appeal in defamation case". Times of India. 15 November 2011. Archived from the original on 11 January 2016. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  14. Scroll Staff (25 October 2020). "Times Now asked to air apology to activist for derogatory remarks during 2018 debate". Scroll.in. Archived from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  15. Bhardwaj, Ananya (11 September 2018). "Why Delhi woman behind viral post on 'molestation' didn't appear in court for 3 years". ThePrint. Archived from the original on 13 June 2021. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  16. "Times Now fined, asked to apologize for intimidating reporting in Jasleen Kaur story". The News Minute. 15 March 2016. Archived from the original on 13 July 2016. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  17. Bansal, Shuchi (15 March 2016). "NBSA asks Times Now to issue apology, pay fine for a story". Mint. Archived from the original on 8 July 2016. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  18. Ajmal, Zaheeb (26 October 2019). "'Times Now, will you issue public apology now', ask Twitterati after Sarvjeet Singh is acquitted by court". National Herald. Archived from the original on 17 November 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  19. Jagmohan, Aakruti (17 March 2016). "NBSA Asks Times Now to Apologise, Pay Fine for Jasleen Kaur Story". TheQuint. Archived from the original on 24 October 2020. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  20. "NBSA reprimands three TV channels over Tablighi Jamaat reports". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 19 June 2021. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  21. "NBSA fines News18 Kannada, Suvarna News, censures Times Now". Deccanherald. Archived from the original on 17 June 2021. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
  22. "Two of Times Now's Debates on Delhi Riots Were Not Impartial, Objective: NBDSA". The Wire. 22 November 2021. Archived from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  23. Priyadarshini, Anna (2 December 2020). "TV channels double down". Newslaundry. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  24. "Farmers are angry with 'Godi Media' for demonising them. TV channels double down". Newslaundry. Archived from the original on 11 December 2020. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  25. Madan, Aman (23 January 2019). "India's Not-So-Free Media". The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 5 December 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  26. Yadav, Puneet Nicholas (2 March 2020). "Are Newsrooms Run By Political Masters? Why Are Editors Compromising On Truth Telling? | Outlook India Magazine". Outlook. Archived from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  27. "'I am Mr McAdams': TV anchor Rahul Shivshankar yells at wrong man on Ukraine live". BBC News. 4 March 2022. Archived from the original on 4 March 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  28. S, Meghnad (3 June 2020). "When Rahul Shivshankar used Black Lives Matter to bash Muslims, as usual". Newslaundry. Archived from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  29. Chaudhuri, Pooja; Pathan, Aqib (6 September 2021). "Times Now airs video from UK as Pakistani fighter jet in Panjshir Valley, Afghanistan". alt news. Archived from the original on 6 September 2021. Retrieved 6 September 2021.