Arnab Goswami's show fined 20,000 pounds by UK Govt body for "hate speech"

MUMBAI: The United Kingdom's communications regulator Office of Communications(OfCom) on Tuesday found that a program of Arnab Goswami's 'Republic Bharat' breached broadcasting conditions by promoting "hatred and intolerance" against a group of individuals.

The order held that the discussion "Poochta Hai Bharat" telecast by the channel on September 6, 2019 violated the conditions in the OfCom Broadcasting Code in respect of "offensive language", "hate speech" and " abusive or derogatory treatment of individuals, groups, religions or communities" with its comments against people of Pakistan.

The OfCom imposed a fine of 20,000 pounds on Worldwide Media Network Ltd, which holds the license to broadcast 'Republic Bharat' in the United Kingdom.

The issue related to the discussion aired on September 6, 2019, in which the anchor Arnab Goswami and the guests made comments about Pakistan while discussing India's lunar exploration program 'Chandrayaan 2'.

"We considered that the overall tone of the discussion was provocative, comparing Pakistanis to donkeys and monkeys. We also noted that Pakistani contributors were repeatedly interrupted and afforded little time to make points which may potentially have provided challenge or context", the order noted.

The order passed by the regulator observed that the the programme, the presenter and some of his guests conveyed the view that all Pakistani people are terrorists, including that "their scientists, doctors, their leaders, politicians all are terrorists. Even their sports people"; "every child is a terrorist over there. Every child is a terrorist. You are dealing with a terrorist entity". One guest also described Pakistani scientists as "thieves", while another described Pakistani people as "beggars". In the context of these criticisms, the presenter, addressing Pakistan and/or Pakistani people, said: "We make scientists, you make terrorists".

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