The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom has levied a fine of £20,000 on Worldview Media Network Limited which broadcasts Arnab Goswami’s Republic Bharat channel in the UK.
In other words, the Republic Bharat’s show, Poochta Hai Bharat, was found spreading ‘Hate speech’ in its episode aired on September 6, 2019.
OfCom stated in its order that the program ‘contained un-contextualized hate speech and that this content was potentially highly offensive’.
The episode was all about Pakistan and Arnab’s anti-muslim agendas. So it was quite obvious that statements by guests and Arnab himself were clearly stating Pakistan and its citizens as terrorists or terrorist nations. Ofcom also directed Republic Bharat to air their findings on the channel.
And like always, after the news went viral, people took to social media to comment on Ofcom’s decision:
Uh-oh, what happens when the court in question doesn’t consider an #Arnab a special category of human? #SupremeCourtOfIndia https://t.co/vEJdj3xueC
— Danish Aslam (@dan1shaslam) December 22, 2020
Arnab Goswami’s Republic Bharat becomes only second Indian mediahouse to get fined for Hate Speech by UK media watchdog OfCom. Zakir Naik’s Peace TV was the first!
Basically OfCom has exposed that Arnab is no different than Zakir! #ThooktaHaiBharathttps://t.co/GxYvTyVOIF— Samar (@Samar_Anarya) December 23, 2020
Arnab Goswami’s programme fined 20,000 pounds by UK broadcast regulator for broadcasting content that involved “offensive language”, “hate speech” and “ abusive or derogatory treatment of individuals, groups, religions or communities”. #ThooktaHaiBharat @republic pic.twitter.com/k1He0r3vl7
— Ramakrishna Nimbagal (@Nimbagalram) December 23, 2020
£20,000 fine for hate speech and highly offensive content! #ThooktaHaiBharat on Republic TV for defaming Indian journalism worldwide.
— Dhruv Rathee 🇮🇳 (@dhruv_rathee) December 22, 2020
Shame on you @republic for spreading hate and defaming Bharat#ThooktaHaiBharat pic.twitter.com/E27xPR4i1Z
— Manish Shukla (@ManishS47038529) December 23, 2020
UK body slaps £20,000 fine on firm broadcasting Republic Bharat @republic #ThooktaHaiBharat#ArnabGoswami
Le me and my bois:😂👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/TGI4QhV5jx— Arif Ansari🇮🇳 (@ariforiginals) December 23, 2020
Arnab Goswami is yet to give an official statement on the ‘Hate Speech’ penalty.