[GreenYouth] Mohammad Zubair’s Arrest: Electronic Media in Its Usual Role: As the Attack Dog of the Regime

[Sukla Sen]

https://www.newslaundry.com/2022/06/29/funding-to-non-cooperation-one-sided-reportage-on-zubair-with-help-from-anonymous-sources

Funding to 'non-cooperation': One-sided reportage on Zubair, with help from
anonymous sourcesIn the wake of the Alt News cofounder’s arrest, dubious
stories from police ‘sources’ are back on the block.
Ayush Tiwari <http:///author/ayush-tiwari>

Sources say that TV news channels’ reportage on Mohammad Zubair’s arrest
has left a lot to be desired. They claim that cross-checking and balance
were missing from several reports and the broadcasters over-reliant on the
Delhi police. These sources then switched off the television and waited for
the morning newspapers instead.

Banter aside, the above-mentioned sources are fictitious, inspired by
quotes from police officers that have crept into the news cycle since the *Alt
News* co-founder was arrested on June 27 over a 2018 tweet from a Hindi
movie.

The most eye-catching ones appeared on *India Today *on June 28. Here’s
their headline: “Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair received more than 50
lakhs in last 3 months: Sources”. The article
<https://web.archive.org/web/20220628062928/https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/alt-news-co-founder-mohammed-zubair-account-delhi-police-special-cell-cyber-unit-religious-sentiments-twitter-1967576-2022-06-28-account-delhi-police-special-cell-cyber-unit-religious-sentiments-twitter-1967576-2022-06-28>
tells us that this alleged information is from “police sources”, who claim
that “Zubair had also received a lot of donations,” including some on the
Unified Payment Interface, or UPI.

There were no further details. Who sent him Rs 50 lakh and why? Were the
funds associated with *Alt News*, which accepts donations over UPI? Has the
money been used? How did the police chance upon these transactions and what
did they have to do with the tweet?

The report –which appeared in near-identical form
<https://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-alt-news-co-founder-mohammed-zubair-refuses-to-hand-over-electronic-devices-to-police-2964131>
in *DNA* – said that the police “would also investigate who made these
donations and the purpose behind them”. In effect, we’re left with a
suggestive claim from unknown police sources and no details.

A few hours later, the report changed. From Rs 50 lakh in the “last 3
months”, the headline changed
<https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/alt-news-co-founder-mohammed-zubair-account-delhi-police-special-cell-cyber-unit-religious-sentiments-twitter-1967576-2022-06-28>
the period to “last few days”. The news outlet did not carry any correction
or explanation for this important update. The anonymous sources were
discarded and in the updated copy, KPS Malhotra, the deputy commissioner,
repeated the claim on record.
&amp;lt;img src="
https://gumlet.assettype.com/newslaundry%2F2022-06%2Fb3da06d3-e813-4721-987e-28f5672c20a0%2Funnamed.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&amp;amp;amp;w=1200";
alt=""/&amp;gt;
[image: The changing headlines of India Today’s report on Mohammad
Zubair.]&amp;lt;img
src="
https://gumlet.assettype.com/newslaundry%2F2022-06%2Fa78c0daf-1c5e-4d65-93b7-c4d660224c86%2Funnamed__1_.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&amp;amp;amp;w=1200";
alt="The changing headlines of India Today’s report on Mohammad Zubair.
"/&amp;gt;

The changing headlines of India Today’s report on Mohammad Zubair.

“Are you a news channel or a relay station?” a Twitter user asked
<https://twitter.com/nadircazi/status/1541746661357424643> *India Today*.
“Have u cross checked it ???” asked another. There were also those who
believed the outlet. “​​Such a easy money earning by instigating riots in
country..How can some one be so corrupt,” wrote one user.

Most noticeably, *India Today *did not reach out to Zubair’s lawyer or
colleagues. *Alt News* chief Pratik Sinha’s tweet on the arrest was carried
but not his reply to the Rs 50 lakh claim. He took to Twitter to call the
police claim “absolutely lies”, with a screenshot of the *India Today*
report. “All the money that Alt News receives goes to the organisation’s
bank and not any individuals,” he wrote
<https://twitter.com/free_thinker/status/1541708888562712577>. “The bank
statement of Zubair's personal account of which I have a copy debunks this
falsehood.”

In contrast, the *Indian Express* carried the story
<https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/mohammed-zubair-arrest-alt-news-website-delhi-police-7997248/>
with comments from both Sinha and Kawalpreet Kaur, Zubair’s counsel.

The *India Today* report had the byline of Arvind Ojha, a deputy editor at
the network. In 2019, when the police had entered the Jamia Millia Islamia
university library and assaulted students protesting against the
Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Ojha had called
<https://www.newslaundry.com/2020/02/17/jamia-millia-video-eight-questions-india-today-should-answer>
the students “rioters” because “sources” in the police had told him so. A
month later, “sources” told him
<https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/islamic-state-spreading-network-in-many-southern-states-delhi-police-1635944-2020-01-11>
that the terror group Islamic State was “spreading network in many southern
states”. Last year, Ojha reported
<https://twitter.com/IndiaToday/status/1361537125997367299> – on the back
of his “sources” – that activist Disha Ravi was in touch with
pro-Khalistani groups. All these stories had few details, were
uncorroborated and without comments from those who faced such serious
allegations.

While *India Today *broke its source-based stories, *Republic *had access
to the police’s remand copy. According to the copy, the channel claimed,
Zubair was asked to join the investigation but he refused. On Twitter,
Sinha wondered <https://twitter.com/free_thinker/status/1541687687958204416>
how the channel had the note when “Zubair's lawyers haven't been provided
the copy despite multiple requests to the concerned police personnel”.

But claims of non-cooperation soon began to surface elsewhere. By evening,
the sources had shifted base to *Times Now*. “Alt News co-founder Mohamed
Zubair refused to cooperate with the authorities in the investigation,
sources said,” the channel reported
<https://www.timesnownews.com/india/alt-news-co-funder-md-zubair-denies-to-handover-electronic-devices-to-investigators-after-arrest-sources-article-92516529>,
adding that the fact-checker “refused to hand over the electronic gadgets
that he used to post the offensive tweet back in 2018”.

What kind of gadgets are involved? How many? Why did Zubair “refuse” to
hand over the gadgets? Once again, these details were missing. They are
important since the Delhi police claims that the fact-checker was arrested
because he declined to cooperate. Like *India Today*, the piece lacked
comment from Zubair or *Alt News*.

*Hindustan Times *reported
<https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/alt-news-co-founder-mohammed-zubair-won-t-surrender-electronic-devices-sources-101656403157905.html>
this story too and attributed it to a “a senior Delhi police officer”. Its
copy said that “neither Zubair nor his legal team have commented on this as
yet,” without mentioning if it had reached out to them.

*Newslaundry* reached out to *Alt News *editor Pratik Sinha to comment on
the allegation that Zubair refused to cooperate with the police. This piece
will be updated if we receive a response.

The plague of sources leaking critical allegations is not new. In the
aftermath of the communal violence in Delhi in February 2020, news channels
– Zee News
<https://www.newslaundry.com/2020/09/11/how-zee-news-is-trying-to-prejudice-the-delhi-riots-trials>,
for instance – carried one-sided source-based reports that levied serious
allegations against anti-CAA protesters such as Umar Khalid, Meeran Haider
and Asif Iqbal Tanha. These were police leaks that claimed that the
activists had admitted to receiving money from PFI, masterminding the
violence, hating the Narendra Modi government and much more. The
allegations were always denied by their counsel but not carried in media
reports.

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