The Upside Down Zee-Jindal Case

Usually, the media does the sting and industrialists sue for defamation

The Jindal reverse sting on Zee is like watching an avant garde French movie—everything is upside down, nothing makes sense and yet it is somehow seminal. It starts with the sting camera being in the opposite hand and ends with the defamation suit being filed from the other end.

The brief background is that in a meeting with Jindal Steel’s representatives, editors of Zee News and Zee Business asked for Rs 100 crore in advertisements in return for not filing negative reports related to the coal allotment scam. Once you get into details it gets complicated. First there is the question of the demand. There seems to be nothing specific being offered or used as blackmail. From the tape, it seems a general promise to not run negative stories. And Rs 100 crore for such a deal beats reason. The market cap of Zee News is just over Rs 300 crore. It would be easier for Jindal to put in Rs 200 crore more and buy Zee altogether.

Zee’s version of events is equally weird. Zee does not deny that the meeting did happen. Their defence, however, is that they were doing a sting when the camera was rolling for Jindal. Zee says a bribe was offered to one of the editors, and to get evidence of how they were being tempted, the two went to get a signed advertising contract. It’s a little absurd. An advertising contract is an advertising contract. One of the editors himself says in the clip that this is all transparent. The proof of the bribe should be the bribe. A sting is when a suitcase of money is exchanged. Also, when have you ever seen the editorial head of a channel or newspaper do a sting? Such dangerous work is for underlings who want a quick route to fame.

The amusing icing on this cake is Zee filing a defamation suit against Jindal. Usually it’s the other way round; industrialists go to court against the media. If a guess has to be taken about what did happen, then it is this: the Zee editors were making a sales pitch and using prevention of negative coverage as an incentive. Jindal chose to, cunningly and justifiably, interpret it as blackmail. We await a non-existent independent body to conduct a never-to-happen independent probe for the truth to be never known.

About The Author

Madhavankutty Pillai

Madhavankutty Pillai has no specialisations whatsoever. He is among the last of the generalists. And also Open chief of bureau, Mumbai  

•