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]
| Country | India |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Worldwide |
| 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 | |
| Launched | 23 January 2006 |
| Links | |
| Website | www |
| Availability | |
| Terrestrial | |
| Fetch TV (Australia) | 719 |
| Streaming media | |
| Live Stream | Watch Live |
| Live Stream on ZengaTV | Watch Live |
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
editIn 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:
| Channel | Language | Genre |
|---|---|---|
| Times Now | English | News |
| Times Now World | ||
| Mirror Now | ||
| ET Now | ||
| Times Now NavBharat | Hindi | |
| ET Now Swadesh |
Distribution
editAlong 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
edit- Rahul Shivshankar – Editor-in-chief[10]
- Navika Kumar – Group editor [11]
- Maroof Raza – Consultant and strategic affairs expert[12]
Lawsuits
editOn 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
editTimes 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
editIn 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
editThe 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
editReferences
edit- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ a b Jawed, Sam (13 February 2018). "A compilation of Times Now's experiments with untruth". Alt News.
- ^ a b Team, N. L. (4 January 2023). "Among media outlets, Times Group, Zee shared most misinformation in 2022: Alt News". Newslaundry. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
- ^ Dingdong Contest between DD India and Republic TV in English News Genre Archived 13 May 2019 at the Wayback Machine, Television India
- ^ "BCCL floats TV distribution joint venture". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 14 January 2014.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Navika Kumar appointed Times Network Group editor". 📢 Newslaundry. 19 February 2020. Archived from the original on 23 February 2020. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "NBSA reprimands three TV channels over Tablighi Jamaat reports". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 19 June 2021. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
- ^ "NBSA fines News18 Kannada, Suvarna News, censures Times Now". Deccanherald. Archived from the original on 17 June 2021. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
- ^ "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.
- ^ Priyadarshini, Anna (2 December 2020). "TV channels double down". Newslaundry. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
- ^ "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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "'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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.