Image Source: livelaw.in
News Broadcasting Standard Authority directed Hindi news channel "Aaj Tak" to air an apology for the fake news reported by them related to the SSR case. The news channel declared some tweets as the last words of Sushant Singh Rajput. NBSA directed to air an apology on their news channel on 23.04.2021 at 8 PM with the texts read in Hindi as:
"Aaj Tak apologises that while reporting on the incidents relating to the suicide of Sushant Singh Rajput, we had run certain tweets on Aaj Tak channel and wrongly reported the screenshots calling them real and attributing them as the actor's last tweets. By doing so, we have violated Clause 1 of the "Specific Guidelines Covering Reportage" relating to "Accuracy" which states that information should be gathered first-hand from more than one source, if possible; reports received from news agencies should be attributed and where possible be verified; allegations should be reported accurately as made and errors of fact should be corrected at the earliest, giving sufficient prominence to the broadcast of the correct version of fact(s)."
The authority also fined Rs 1 lakh on the news channel. The authority also found other news channels like Zee News, India TV, News 24 for insensitive reporting in the same manner.