“You had no authority to record and no authority to use it,” Delhi High Court’s reprimand concluded the controversy which began after an India Today cameraman continued to record Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shazia Ilmi inside her house after she left Rajdeep Sardesai’s debate show as a sharp exchange ensued between her and the anchor on the Agniveer scheme row, last month. Later, the veteran ‘journalist’ shared the video on social media in which a wearied Shazia Ilmi can be seen fiercely telling the cameraman to stop recording her without permission and immediately leave her premises. She responded that uploading the footage was objectionable and a violation of her privacy and submitted a defamation suit after Rajdeep accused her of ‘assaulting’ the cameraman.
However, the left ecosystem duly defended the cameraman’s conduct and extolled Rajdeep. It didn’t bother the leftists and their acolytes who pose as the defenders of women’s rights and dignity for anyone to invade Shazia Ilmi’s privacy and cause discomfort just because she doesn’t align with their ideological spectrum. They even branded her as the aggressor and attacked her for standing up for herself. Similarly, ‘Newslaundry’ which is yet another mundane voice in the echo chamber of liberal media slammed the BJP leader for objecting to the inappropriate behaviour of the cameraman and Rajdeep’s insensitive response to her genuine concern.
On 3rd August, it posted a video titled “UPSC aspirants’ death: Middle Class anger makes Godi Media anchors hit ground zero | TV Newsance 261,” on its official YouTube channel which was hosted by anchor Manisha Pande where she tried to berate journalists who don’t tow the political line of Congress-led opposition parties. Notably, the Congress party’s liberal ecosystem including journalists coined the phrase ‘Godi Media’ after the grand old party was kicked out of power in 2014 to imply that media outlets are under the influence of the BJP and, hence, consistently endorse PM Modi.
The Newslaundry ‘journalist’ also portrayed BJP spokespersons as ridiculous and claimed that they lose their composure, act erratically and loudly on national television and exhibit no knowledge of debating etiquette or their official roles as party spokespersons. She brought out separate instances to make fun of them and Shazia Ilmi also featured on the list.
“Just last week another BJP spokesperson threw a fit. So, Shazia Ilmi was on an India Today debate when a retired army officer (Major General Yash Mor) expressed his views in Agniveer which weren’t quite appreciative of the idea,” Mrinal Pande stated as a clip from the debate was played for the viewers. “Long story short, Shazia didn’t want to listen to the retired army officer, obviously. Rajdeep got angry and had her fader down and then she walked out. That’s fine. That’s her wish but see what happens next,” cutting to a video in which the cameraman was seen recording the BJP leader inside her residence even after she went off the air and had to force him to leave her place. The footage was presented as a humorous piece along with background music and memes to downplay the occurrence.
Manisha Pande, in order to persuade her audience how trivial the matter is further alleged, “Now, the one rule of television news journalism is to always keep your camera rolling even if someone walks out of your interview. You don’t just cut it. you keep the camera rolling to show your audience that the person has decided to leave instead of taking your questions or instead of listening to you. Some of the most dramatic journalistic moments have actually happened because the cameraperson decided to keep the camera rolling. Remember this,” and afterwards a snippet from the 2007 interview of Prime Minister Narendra Modi (who was then Gujarat’s Chief Minister) with Karan Thapar was played to convince people how insignificant it is to infringe upon the privacy of a politician if they don’t belong to the Congress-led ecosystem followed by advice for Shazia Ilmi to “learn from her super boss.”
Will Newslaundry apologize to Shazia Ilmi now?
— Abhishek (@AbhishBanerj) August 14, 2024
They supported Rajdeep…saying it is "rule" of journalism to keep rolling camera even if Shazia did not want to be recorded
Now Delhi High Court has told Rajdeep to take down the video
Delhi High Court is above Newslaundry
FYI pic.twitter.com/UMHvDOXOdO
The Newslaundry ‘journalist’ alleged, “How gracefully Modiji said ‘Let’s continue being friends’ and walked away unlike you who is scrambling and screaming,” as another clip of the distressed BJP national spokesperson asking the cameraman to leave her house was shown. She then charged, “As if this behaviour was enough, she later launched into the cameraperson on Twitter (now X) calling him a pervert. ‘The pervert cameraman continued to film me despite my obvious physical and emotional discomfort after the show was over. Why?’ ‘Why was he still continuing to focus on my upper body showing it up close? It was so uncomfortable for me and I felt most embarrassed’,” she mockingly read some of the allegations levelled by Shazia Ilmi.
Manisha Pande even went so far as to subtly refer to Shazia Ilmi as a “pervert,” adding to her shameful attempts to justify the inappropriate conduct since it was directed against a member of the saffron party. “Recording my upper body? The only person who is a pervert in all of this is someone who thinks that this (displayed a still of the video featuring Shazia Ilmi) is an act of perversion. Like I mean, are you serious,” as journalist Sushant Sinha’s clip saying, “Think yourself if this makes any sense,” appeared on screen. She then transgressed every norm of decency and disregarded Shazia Ilmi’s concerns as unfounded because the cameraman hadn’t followed her into her bedroom or bathroom.
“All he did was keep his camera rolling to show the audience that Shazia has left and she is accusing him of being a pervert. Guess who stood up for the poor India Today cameraman and his respect, only Rajdeep Sardesai,” as she praised the latter for his defence of the cameraman’s objectionable behaviour. A voice then highlighted a part of Rajdeep’s statement, “If you have a grouse with me or with an army general on the show, of course, that’s your prerogative. And I respect that too. But for you to chuck the mike and abuse our video journalist and throw him out of your house is just not done. He was only doing his job. No excuse for bad behaviour,” to point out his alleged chivalry towards the cameraman.
Manisha Pande then expressed, “A defamation case might arise if you crack a joke on the owner,” and attached an image of a report stating, “India Today Group files Rs 2 crore suit against ‘Newslaundry’ for defamation, copyright infringement,” in the hopes of insinuating that the lawsuit resulted from the media platform’s frequent jabs at PM Modi and the ruling party.
“Meanwhile, the innocent cameraman’s respect has completely fallen apart and the management won’t even issue a single statement. Not one statement from the higher ups and we are pretty sure that Shazia will be back on India Today, invited for her expert comment after randomly accusing the poor cameraman for just doing his job. Whether it’s Shazia or Sanju (Verma, another BJP spokesperson) the problem with the BJP spokespersons is that they have forgotten what the job of a spokesperson is. It is to defend the party line, not needlessly attack those who don’t agree with you,” she sermoned while wilfully ignoring the belligerency of the leaders and spokespersons of liberal media’s favourite I.N.D.I. Alliance headed by the Congress party.
Undoubtedly, Shazia Ilmi would have been considered a hero or rather ‘shero’ for speaking out against someone who tried to breach her privacy without her consent if a person from the liberal ecosystem had been in her place. Even Rajdeep might have joined the applauding crowd but as a BJP member, she has been stripped of such privileges in the eyes of the liberals. For them, every BJP member or a ‘right-wing’ individual should be singled out and targeted whenever the opportunity presents itself regardless of whether they are at fault or not.
Of course, it would be naive to anticipate impartiality or objectivity from liberals who view the world through the lens of their murky ideology. However, the Delhi court has finally spoken and rendered a decision that refutes their accusations. Such verdicts do expose the lies and biased narratives of the liberal ecosystem, even though it is their modus operandi and won’t deter them from gleefully exploiting another such opportunity in the near future.
