Zee Media Corporation Limited (abbreviated as ZMCL; formerly Zee News Limited) is an Indian

mass media Mass media include the diverse arrays of media that reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit information electronically via media such as films, radio, recorded music, or television. Digital media comprises b ...

and

news broadcasting News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either video production, produced local programming ...

company based in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. The company is engaged mainly in the business of broadcasting news and current affairs, and regional entertainment up-linked from India via satellite television channels.

History

Zee Media Corporation Limited (formerly Zee News Ltd.) was founded by Essel Group and it was incorporated on 27 August 1999, as Zee Sports Ltd. It was a subsidiary of Zee Telefilms Ltd (later renamed Zee Entertainment Enterprises). The company was reincorporated on 27 May 2004, as Zee News Ltd. It was demerged as a separate company of the Essel Group in 2006. In 2013, Zee News Ltd. changed its name to Zee Media Corporation Limited. It was involved in a joint venture with the Dainik Bhaskar Group for the publication of the Daily News & Analysis newspaper but the paper was discontinued in 2019 after suffering losses. The corporation also runs the Zee Institute of Media Arts (ZIMA) which is owned by Zee Learn.

Channels

Zee Media Corporation Limited (ZMCL) operates 14 television news channels, 5 digital news channels, 7 news apps and 32 digital properties.

Current channels

Former/Defunct channels

Online

Zee News operates the Daily News & Analysis and Zee News websites to provide online coverage of the channel. The ZEE5 website which is owned by the Zee Entertainment Enterprises is used to platform coverage of other ZMCL channels. The World is One News (WION) channel operates its website. The ZMCL also owns the India.com news website. * Daily News & Analysis Website: English-language online news coverage service. It is branded under the DNA program of Zee News.

Newspaper

The ''Daily News & Analysis'' was an English-language

broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of in height. Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper ...

newspaper owned by the Zee Media Corporation Limited. It was launched on 30 July 2005 and branded under the Daily News & Analysis (DNA) program of Zee News. It was primarily circulated in

and discontinued on 9 October 2019 citing recurring losses.

Controversies and criticism

Zee Media Corporation Limited has been involved in many controversies.

Jindal Group incident

The channel was tried for allegedly extorting ₹1 billion from the Jindal Group revealed through a sting operation. Two senior journalists Sudhir Chaudhary and Sameer Ahluwalia were arrested. The two were sent to a 14-day judicial custody in Tihar jail and were ultimately released on bail. Naveen Jindal had accused the two journalists of trying to extort in advertisements for Zee News from him through blackmail by threatening to air stories against his company in the Coalgate scam. Zee News denied the charges and made counterclaims of Jindal offering them to halt their investigations against Jindal Steel's involvement in the scam but filed no charges. In July 2018, the Jindal Group withdrew the case against Zee News and both parties to the litigation stated that an out of court settlement had been reached which remains undisclosed.

Cases of fabrication

Jawaharlal Nehru University sedition controversy

''Zee News'' reported that students from the Democratic Students' Union (DSU) raised "anti-India" slogans such as ''Bharat ki barbadi'' (The destruction of India) and ''Pakistan Zindabad'' (Long live Pakistan) at an event in the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus. In a letter, Vishwa Deepak, a journalist working at the channel, stated that "our biases made us hear ''Bhartiya Court Zindabad'' (Long live the Indian courts) as ''Pakistan Zindabad.'' Vishwa Deepak later resigned from the channel after expressing reservations over its "biased coverage". The footage on the newscast of Zee News had formed the basis of charges filed by the Delhi Police. Sudhir Chaudhary, the editor and prime time anchor of the channel, however on a telecast, made a statement saying "our channel only showed what was happening there, whatever we have shown is 100% authentic." A forensic report of the Delhi Police however later stated that the footage was doctored.

GPS Chips in ₹2000 currency notes

Anchor Sudhir Chaudhary ran a Daily News and Analysis program announcing that the Indian 2000-rupee note issued after the 2016 Indian banknote demonetisation by the government have GPS chips which will allow it to track currency, thereby reducing corruption. The Minister of Finance, Arun Jaitley dismissed the report as being rumours. The

Reserve Bank of India Reserve Bank of India, abbreviated as RBI, is the central bank of the Republic of India, and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system and Indian rupee, Indian currency. Owned by the Ministry of Finance (India), Min ...

has also stated that no such chips are present in the currency notes. The presence of "nano-GPS" in the currency notes has been classified as a

hoax A hoax (plural: hoaxes) is a widely publicised falsehood created to deceive its audience with false and often astonishing information, with the either malicious or humorous intent of causing shock and interest in as many people as possible. S ...

being spread on social media.

Navjot Singh Sidhu – Alwar controversy

Zee News telecasted a video with the claim that the slogans of ''Pakistan Zindabad'' were raised at a rally in Alwar presided over by the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

politician, Navjot Singh Sidhu. Sidhu accused Zee News of playing a doctored video and threatened to file a defamation suit against Zee News. Sidhu stated that slogans of '' Jo Bole So Nihal'' were misconstrued as being in favour of Pakistan. Zee News accused Sidhu of calling a news broadcast to be fake news and sent a defamation notice to him. The notice demanded an apology from him within 24 hours and threatened to pursue legal recourse if an apology was not issued by him.

Mahua Moitra criminal defamation case

Zee News telecasted a show featuring editor-in-chief Sudhir Chaudhary where he claimed that the

Trinamool Congress The All India Trinamool Congress (; AITC), simply known as Trinamool Congress, is an Indian political party that is mainly influential in the Federated state, state of West Bengal. It was founded by Mamata Banerjee on 1 January 1998 as a Lis ...

legislator Mahua Moitra had plagiarised author Martin Longman in her maiden speech after being elected to the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

. Moitra accused the channel of false reporting and submitted a breach of privilege motion against Zee News and Sudhir Chaudhary. Martin Longman responded and stated that the legislator did not plagiarise him. Subsequently, Moitra filed a criminal defamation case against Chaudhary.

Coverage of 2020 Delhi election results

The

2020 Delhi Legislative Assembly election Legislative Assembly elections were held in Delhi on 8 February 2020 to elect 70 members of the Delhi Legislative Assembly. Voters turnout was recorded at 62.82%, a decline of 4.65% from the previous 2015 Delhi Legislative Assembly election, a ...

was held on 8 February 2020. The exit poll results predicted the Aam Aadmi Party to retain their government in

National capital territory of Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

. The Zee News telecast of the exit poll results featured Sudhir Chaudhary, who indulged in polemic commentary against the voters of the election. He stated that the people of Delhi had chosen Pakistan over Hindustan and that the rule of

Mughals The Mughal Empire was an early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to the highlands of pre ...

will now return. He further alleged the people of Delhi are lazy and only concerned about "freebies" and that issues like Ram Mandir, Balakot airstrike and Revocation of Article 370 do not matter to them which is why they have rejected the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

. The telecast resulted in backlash and mockery of Zee News and Sudhir Chaudhary on social media.

Ban in Nepal

On 9 July 2020, Nepal's satellite and cable television operators banned Zee News and some other Indian privately owned news channels, citing "propaganda and defamatory report against the Nepali government".

Alleged interference in Canadian issues

Zee Media's and its subsidiary WION were cited in a September 2024 report from RRM Canada on "Potential Foreign Information Manipulation, and Interference following PM Statement on Killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar". The report examined content from popular Indian State-aligned media outlets and influencers, including WION, finding that "Modi-aligned outlets amplified several state-supported narratives about Prime Minister Trudeau, "Canada's High Commissioner to India, Canada's national security agencies, Canada's Punjabi Sikh diaspora, and Hardeep Singh Nijjar's political beliefs." The report highlighted the “massive digital footprint” of some of the named media outlets in comparison to Canadian media outlets, estimating Zee Media's total audience is 68 Million people.

References

{{Authority control Zee Entertainment Enterprises Television broadcasting companies of India Mass media companies of India Television networks in India

Broadcasting Broadcasting is the data distribution, distribution of sound, audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), ...

Indian companies established in 1999 Mass media companies based in Mumbai 1999 establishments in Maharashtra Essel Group Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange 2006 initial public offerings