‘We Did Nothing To Lead Zee To Air Falsities’

Congress MP and steel tycoon Naveen Jindal has always been media-savvy. This time he has decided to fight one media group that he claims has conducted a vilification campaign against him. Anuradha Raman sent him a questionnaire and got this response from his office. A shorter version of this interview appears in print.

When did you exactly decide to launch a sting operation on ZEE News?

After knowing about the demand of Rs 20-25 crore for 4-5 years in the name of advertisement as a condition to stop vilification campaign launched against our company by way of extortion during meeting of our officials with Mr Sameer Ahluwalia, Editor and Business Head of Zee Business on 10th September 2012, it was decided to hold further meetings and record the conversations in order to know the real intention / motive of M/s. Zee News Ltd. and to protect the interests of the company and its stakeholders.

Was the decision to organise a sting a result of a resolution passed by the board of directors in Jindal or was it your decision? 

It was a collective decision of the organisation to save the reputation of its stakeholders against the personalized vilification campaign started by M/s Zee News Ltd. The Sub-Committee of our company's Board also decided to this effect on the 12th of September, 2012.

Did you outsource the sting to a private investigator? Or did your officers conceive of the plan? When did they communicate the decision to organise a sting to you?

Our own senior officials decided to record the conversations.

As a public servant and a Member of Parliament it appears that there is a violation of conduct rules in offering a "bribe" even if the intention was to expose paid news on the part of ZEE? How do you see this?

There has never been an attempt on the part of JSPL nor JSPL ever offered any bribe to M/s. Zee. This is just an attempt on the part of Zee to defend their otherwise indefensible act of extortion and criminal intimidation. Rather the officials of Zee Group in their criminal conspiracy with its owners/promoters/senior management demanded Rs. 100 crore by way of extortion.

Why did you get upset about the coverage of "Coalgate" and the involvement of your company on ZEE when other channels were doing the same?

The coal issue was being reported by all other channels, but it was the Zee channels which got into a personal vilification campaign against JSPL group of companies and its chairman. We never, therefore, complained to any other channel as they were telecasting our part of the truth/facts as provided by us unlike Zee which chose never to air our views (except for a cursory ticker at times). They even went to the extent of not showing a full-fledged interview till date. They were never interested in objective and certified reporting, but were bent upon using their license to be used as a weapon for extortion and criminal intimidation.

I was informed by your officials that your total ad-spend on TV is less than Rs 2 crores per annum. It is intriguing why you agreed to a Rs 25 crores ad spend later misconstrued as Rs 100 crores by ZEE? Can you explain?

We never agreed to pay them Rs. 25 Crores or 100 Crores. The demand of 20-25 Crores and 100 Crores came from Zee people as a condition to stop vilification campaign against us by way of extortion.

You were clearly upset at what you call one-sided telecast of Coalgate on ZEE? Did you ask Press Council Chairperson to intervene in the matter? And if so, what was his decision?

Who would not get upset at the type of vilification campaign started by Zee against our company on the basis of wrong, manipulated, distorted and misleading facts and documents with the dishonest intention of extorting Rs 100 crore from us ,which was against all ethical codes of journalism? Accordingly, we sent our complaint to Press Council of India (DNA publication too was also doing the same as the Zee Channels were, and editors & business heads of Zee News & Zee Business had given agreement of Rs. 40 crore on behalf of DNA to our officials). However, our complaint was forwarded by Press Council Chairperson to NBSA wherein Justice Verma as the Chairperson of NBSA took suo-motu cognizance of Zee's misdeeds.

You also tried to get in touch with Justice Verma. What did he say?

As mentioned, NBSA had taken suo motu cognizance of our complaint and we were called on 31st Oct. 2012 for personal hearing. Our officials and counsel appeared before NBSA on 31st Oct. 2012 and explained the matter. NBSA ruled that since the matter is subjudice they will not intervene at this stage.

Your company, in Chattisgarh, overrode the decision of villagers in a Jan Sunvai to obtain licensing rights to mine. Some villagers and activists too were beaten into submission. What do you have to say to that?

There is a lot of ignorance masquerading as knowledge related to such issues. It is spoken by those who do not understand the issues of land acquisition which, besides being cumbersome and lengthy, in itself, also has a socio-economic context. JSPL' s approach has always been to get this done in an amicable manner through dialogue rather than by adopting a confrontationist approach. We have a track record of working around with the communities surrounding our sites on the principles of 'synergistic coexistence' wherein the consent of all concerned is obtained amicably of their own volition. There is no need nor a desire on our part to take the law in our hands, nor a question of ever resorting to beating anybody to submission. There is a well laid out legal process for holding public hearing by the state government authorities and we fully subscribe to it. 

You and the ZEE family have enjoyed close affiliations. What went wrong?

This is for the Zee group to answer. As far as we are concerned, we did nothing to lead them to a situation wherein they start a vilification campaign and air false and misleading programme maligning our group for no rhyme or reason.