Media war reaches Bombay High Court

Media war reaches Bombay High Court

News Laundry says none including media can be above scrutiny in response to the Times Group Rs 100 crore defamation suit

The fight over eyeballs and allegations of TRP manipulations has reached the Bombay High Court with the News Laundry Media Pvt Ltd (Defendant) responding to Rs 100 crore defamation suit filed against it by the Bennett Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCI) which owns the Times Group (Applicant).

Hearing on the defamation suit started in the court of Justice A K Menon J on 8 January.

"It is unfortunate that an organisation like BCCL, which has had a glorious history of standing up for the press," has filed a defamation suit against a "small, independently run media outlet that has consciously chosen a revenue model that allows it to work fairly without the pressure of the 'Unofficial Editorial Line' and without the fear of losing advertisement revenue," News Laundry said in its reply filed through Advocates Nikhil Sakhardande and Nipun Katyal, opposing BCCLs prayer for ad-interim reliefs.

Advocates Vijay Hiremath and Swaraj Jadhav represented BCCL in the HC.

The Times Group filed the defamation suit in December after News Laundry uploaded two videos on its portal in October 2020 and December 2020 that the Applicant-Plaintiff found offensive.

BCCI, which owns the Times Group, publishers of various newspapers including The Times of India and news channel Times Now, has been locked in a TRP battle with the rival Republic TV with accusations being hurled and flying across over the alleged manipulation of TRP. News Laundry uploaded a video titled "Explained: How to Rig TRPs" irked the Times Group as it used senior journalist of Times Now Navika Kumar's photograph along with those of other channel heads as the cover photo of the show, creating an impression that Times Now is also tangled in the TRP manipulation controversy.

News Laundry responded it by saying that they used Navika Kumar's photograph as a matter of routine journalistic practice and followed it up with examples of how Navika Kumar herself has often indulged in such practices.

In the first video, News Laundry compared coverage of actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death case highlighting the difference between The Times of India and Times Now.

News Laundry has taken a stand that pointing out contradictions does not amount to defamation.

In its ad-interim application, BCCL has sought directions to News Laundry to deposit Rs 100 crore with the HC and to desist from making further defamatory statements against the publication or re-telecasting the content. The final relief sought is an unconditional apology for defaming Times Now's Group Editor Navika Kumar and its Editor in Chief Rahul Shivshankar who anchor news shows during the evening prime time.

The HC fixed 12 February as the deadline for all nine defendants to file their replies and has fixed 22 February as the next date of hearing.