On March 29, Zee Media Corporation terminated the services of Jagdeep Singh Sandhu, Editor Zee Punjab/Haryana/Himachal, over allegations of ‘unethical dealings with a political party’ during the Punjab Assembly Elections. In an official statement, the company said his services had been terminated with immediate effect from March 28.
The statement read, “Through this notice, the concerned and public at large are hereby informed that Jagdeep Singh Sandhu, with last known residence address – Sector 91 Mohali 160062, who an employee and Editor of the channel ‘ZEE PUNJAB HARYANA HIMACHAL’, Zee Media Corporation Limited, has been terminated from his employment with effect from 28.03.2022. It has been brought to the notice of the management of Zee Media that Jagdeep Singh Sandhu allegedly entered a clandestine understanding with a political party contesting Punjab Assembly Elections 2-3 months back.”
It further added that Singh was doing biased reporting on Zee PHH in favour of the said political party. He bypassed the company’s policies that assure neutrality and impartiality at all times. The reason for such partial reporting was stated as the “promise to grant a Rajya Sabha nomination” to Singh.
‘Jagdeep was exposed when the party backed out’
In the statement, the company mentioned that the deal between Singh and the unnamed political party came to light when the party possibly backed out and did not fulfil the promise. The company said, “Jagdeep was exposed in front of the management of Zee Media, as he suddenly wanted to persuade the management to publish stories against the said political party.” It added, “Such act by Jagdeep is seen as not only unlawful and unethical journalistic practice, but it also amounts to defrauding and misleading the viewers of the network.”
The company has cautioned the public that Jagdeep Sandhu no longer has any authority to represent Zee Media or to enter into any agreement, transaction, arrangement or deal with anyone of whatsoever nature on behalf of the company. Furthermore, the company would not be responsible for any financial transactions between Sandhu and any other party.
It added, “Public/Political Parties/Media or any other related are alerted and cautioned through this Notice, not to enter any transaction with Jagdeep on behalf of Zee Media in any manner and Zee Media shall not be responsible and liable for any act done by Mr Jagdeep Singh Sandhu.”
Sandhu shared AAP related reports on personal accounts
It is noteworthy that Sandhu had shared posts specific to Aam Aadmi Party on his personal profile multiple times during the elections.
Instead of sharing posts from the Channel’s social media accounts, on some occasions, he preferred to share videos from the Delhi CM’s and AAP’s Punjab CM candidate’s account.
Though we cannot be sure which party had promised him a Rajya Sabha nomination but going by the results of Punjab Assembly elections, if any other party had made such a deal, it would have been impossible for them to nominate and send Sandhu to Rajya Sabha. In that case, Sandhu would not have pitched to do negative reporting of that party. But all the speculations are only hypothetical and cannot be proven with 100% surety as the company has decided not to name the political party in its statement.
