Sudhir Chaudhary (journalist)
Career
Chaudhary has been working in the television news industry since the 1990s. He started his career in Zee News, then worked with Live India and Mi Marathi before joining Zee News again. He was in live television reporting and then 24 hours news television. Chaudhary was told to have been in the squad which has covered the Vajpayee–Musharraf Indo-Pak meeting at Islamabad, after the 2001 Indian Parliament attack.
In 2003, he left Zee News. He was instrumental in the launch of Sahara Samay, the Hindi-language news channel of the Sahara group. He also joined India TV for a brief time. In 2012, he rejoined Zee News, where he hosted the news show Daily News & Analysis (DNA).
Chaudhary resigned again from Zee News in July 2022 and joined Aaj Tak. He is hosting Aaj Tak's prime time show Black & White (B & W).
Lawsuits
Jindal extortion case
In November 2012, Chaudhary and his colleague Sameer Ahluwalia were arrested on charges of extortion after businessman Naveen Jindal alleged that the two journalists had tried to extort ₹100 Crore worth of advertisements from his company in exchange for dropping stories that linked the Jindal Group with the Coalgate scam. The two were sent to 14-day judicial custody in Tihar Jail but were released on bail. The Broadcast Editors' Association suspended Chaudhary as its treasurer in the wake of these charges, saying that Chaudhary had acted in a manner prejudicial to the interests and objectives of the Association. In July 2018, the Jindal Group wrote to the investigating agencies saying that a settlement had been reached, and requesting them to withdraw the allegations against the journalists and close the case; on the same day, charges of bribery were filed against Jindal and others related to the case.
Allegations against Mahua Moitra
Chaudhary accused Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra of plagiarising speech of Truman Longman pointing out early signs of fascism in India while both Longman and Moitra later denied plagiarising the speech. Mahua Moitra filed criminal defamation case against Sudhir Chaudhary after which Chaudhary on his daily prime time show accepted that only a part of Mahua Moitra's speech was broadcast and showed his regrets. Zee Media also filed a defamation case against her for calling it 'chor' and 'paid' news.
Accusations of Islamophobia
On 10 April 2020, on Zee News, Chaudhary (according to Al Jazeera) openly accused Muslims of impeding India's coronavirus war. Chaudhary said on his show DNA that the "Tablighi Jamaat betrayed the nation."
In May 2020, Kerala Police filed a first information report against Chaudhary for his March 11 broadcast of DNA, in which Chaudhary discusses the "types of jihads", which were criticized as Islamophobic.
On 2 June 2023, he subtly blamed Muslims for destroying a temple in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr. This later turned out to be false when the UP police arrested the four Hindu men in the case. After this, he said "Progressive Hindus" have "defamed their own religion", and these are the "same progressive Hindus who like to be identified as secular".
In November 2023, the News Broadcasting & Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA) recently took action against two shows hosted by Sudhir Chaudhary, citing concerns of Islamophobia. The complaint emphasized the communal discourse present in both shows, both hosted by Chaudhary. One episode, aired in October 2022 as part of his 'Black and White' series, addressed the topic of "Muslim participation in Garba festivals." However, the content was criticized for its biased portrayal, manipulation of facts, and the use of a distinctly communal slur, reflecting an anti-Muslim bias. In another instance, Sudhir Chaudhary made unfounded claims about illegal mausoleums on government land in Uttarakhand during his role as anchor, thus stigmatizing the entire Muslim community. In response to these complaints, the NBDSA reprimanded the channel for the unnecessary and loose use of the term 'Mazhaar Jihaad' and ordered the removal of the video of one of the shows.
While once again targeting minorities, stirred debate on his show "Black and White" by declaring India the best cricket team globally, attributing success to the absence of reservations in player selection. Advocating for a merit-based approach, he questioned whether removing reservations across sectors would lead to greater national achievements. Social media backlash accused him of promoting divisive narratives against minorities and backward classes, urging a deeper understanding of the historical context of reservations for marginalized upliftment.
In March 2024, Aajtak, who broadcast his show, was again fined by NBDSA for misrepresenting Barack Obama's statement about protecting Muslim minorities in India by attributing it to the 'tukde tukde gang' and separatist and terrorist movements such as Khalistan, thus distorting viewers' perception of the matter.
Threats
In 2015, Sudhir Chaudhary got X-category security after allegations that someone had threatened to murder Chaudhary. In 2020, Zee News claimed that China had been monitoring Sudhir Chaudhary.
Awards
Chaudhary won a Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism in the "Hindi broadcast" category for 2013. He won the award for his interview with the friend of the Delhi December 16 gang-rape victim.