Sudhir Chaudhary (journalist)

Sudhir Chaudhary is the senior editor and business head of Zee News and hosts DNA (Daily News & Analysis) at Zee News. Before heading Zee News he was the editor & CEO of Live India & Mi Marathi channels promoted by Sri Adhikari Brothers.[1] He was arrested in 2012 for allegedly trying to extort Rs. 100 crore from the Jindal Group and is a key figure in the ongoing legal battle between industrialist Naveen Jindal and Zee Media Corporation Ltd.[2]

Career

Chaudhary has been working in the television news industry since the mid-1990s. Over the period of two decades, he has worked at several Hindi and Marathi news channels. Notably, he aided in the launch of Sahara Samay, the Hindi news channel of the Sahara group.[3] He also served as the Editor and CEO to Live India and Mi Marathi. Presently, he hosts prime time news show, DNA (Daily News & Analysis) at Zee News. He was a part of the media that covered the meeting at Islamabad between Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pervez Musharraf after the terrorist attack on the Loksabha in 2001.[4][5]

Awards

Sudhir Chaudhary won a Ramnath Goenka award in the Uncovering India Invisible category in the Hindi broadcast news for 2013. He won the award for his interview with the friend of the Delhi December 16 gang-rape victim.[6][7] [8]

Controversies

In 2012, a controversy ensued after sitting Congress MP Naveen Jindal, chairman of Jindal Steel & Power, released a grainy tape allegedly capturing an attempt made by two employees of Zee News to blackmail him. Jindal alleges that two senior staffers of Zee news, namely Sudhir Chaudhary and Sameer Ahluwalia, acting at the behest of Subhash Chandra (promoter of Zee News), approached him with what was in effect an instance of blackmail. The two staffers allegedly said that they had a lot of negative information about Jindal's business activities, and that they would air the same on Zee News unless Jindal paid them a large sum of money, reported to be one billion rupees.[2] Jindal reportedly made a recording of the alleged blackmail attempt, released the tape to the media, and lodged a police complaint.[9] Based on that complaint, Sudhir Chaudhary and Sameer Ahluwalia were summoned to the local police station, arrested and sent to Tihar Jail. Later he got anticipatory bail.[10]

In 2007, Chaudhary was head of a now-defunct channel called Janmat. It was closed down after Chaudhary allegedly ran a fake sting operation on a school teacher for supposedly running a sex racket, as a result of which she was attacked by a mob on camera.[11][12] She took the matter to court later and the channel was found guilty of manufacturing a sting (the “student” in the supposed sting turned out to be a journalist).[13][14] A local businessman allegedly connived with the Chaudhary to frame her.[15]

References

  1. ↑ "Zee News senior editor Sudhir Chaudhary Editor & Business Head". zee news.
  2. 1 2 "Zee News senior editor Sudhir Chaudhary gets X-category security". The Economic Times.
  3. ↑ "Latest News India, Live Breaking News Regional News, World Top Headlines, Business, Politics, Sports, Bollywood". Sahara Samay. Retrieved 2014-05-25.
  4. ↑ "exchange4media >> Dialogue >> Sudhir Chaudhary".
  5. ↑ "Sudhir Chaudhary bids adieu to Live India".
  6. ↑ "Zee News senior editor Sudhir Chaudhary gets Ramnath Goenka Excellence". satyavijayi. Retrieved 2015-11-25.
  7. ↑ "Sudhir Chaudhary gets Ramnath Goenka Excellence". The Indian Express. Retrieved 2015-11-23.
  8. ↑ "Sudhir Chaudhary gets Ramnath Goenka Excellence". financial express. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  9. ↑ ZEE-Jindal sting operation: Naveen Jindal unveils ZEE News blackmailing. 28 October 2012 – via YouTube.
  10. ↑ "Zee News Editor Sudhir Chaudhary and Samir Ahluwalia granted bail in extortion case". Economic Times. 18 December 2012. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  11. ↑ "Arnaboxious - The Witch Hunter". Media Croocks. 30 October 2012. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  12. ↑ "JNU Professor Hits Back At Zee News Editor Sudhir Chaudhary, Says ‘Dont Want To Engage With Criminal Extortionist’". News World India. 10 March 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  13. ↑ "‘Stung’ Uma moves court to get back job". The Tribune (Chandigarh). Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  14. ↑ "Manufacturing 'anti-nationals': Look who's talking about doctored videos". Scroll.in.
  15. ↑ "Look who’s calling us anti-national! The pleasant antecedents of Sudhir Chaudhary and journalistic ethics of IBN 7". Kafila.org. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
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