New Delhi: Close to a year after Zee News alleged that a man caused a traffic jam in Jammu and Kashmir by stopping his truck in the middle of the highway to offer namaz – but where he was actually stuck along with other vehicles – the broadcaster has been fined Rs 1 lakh for “using unverified content available on social media”.In an order issued on Tuesday (February 17), the News Broadcasters and Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA) said that Zee had made a “clear lapse” by not exercising due diligence and also issued six guidelines for reporting on content available on social media, including that “merely disclaiming” that its “authenticity cannot be verified” will not pass muster.The NBDSA enforces the News Broadcasters and Digital Association’s voluntarily drawn Codes of Ethics & Broadcasting Standards as part of a self-regulatory mechanism. The Association has 125 news and current affairs channels as its members, per its website.Tuesday’s order issued by NBDSA chairperson Justice A.K. Sikri, a former judge of the Supreme Court, came in response to three complaints against Zee News’s March 3, 2025 broadcast filed by Indrajeet Ghorpade, Utkarsh Mishra and Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind lawyer Syed Kaab Rashidi.Zee in its programme had aired a video of the trucker offering namaz from the roof of his vehicle and alleged that he caused a traffic jam on the highway, remaining “utterly carefree” the whole time.“You can see a completely empty road on the other side of the highway because unlike this driver no one offered namaz there,” the show’s anchor said, adding to allege that when the time to offer prayers came the trucker chose to park his vehicle in the middle of the road instead of parking it to the side.She continued: “Zee News does not validate this viral video but whoever has seen it on social media has certainly asked for action against the driver.”A few days later, Alt News noted that a clearer video of the incident showed that the Muslim driver was himself stuck in a queue of vehicles as well as that advisories issued at the time had warned of single-lane traffic and shooting stones near Jammu’s Ramban, where the jam reportedly took place.Complainant Ghorpade had said that ‘by airing an unverified video and wrongly blaming’ the Muslim truck driver, Zee had violated the Code of Ethics & Broadcasting Standards.Responding to the complainants’ allegations in writing and during a hearing called by the NBDSA in November, Zee said it had clarified that the video was unverified and that it ‘was not presented as factual or confirmed’. It denied violating any aspects of the Code of Ethics & Broadcasting Standards.However, Justice Sikri said in his order that the NBDSA “was of the view that using unverified content available on social media is a clear lapse on the part of the broadcaster, which is also serious in nature” and in contravention of the principle of accuracy in the Code.“Having regard to the nature of the violation, NBDSA would have imposed heavy penalty. However, in view of the subsequent deletion of the impugned video by the broadcaster itself, NBDSA decided to impose a fine of Rs 1,00,000 on the broadcaster,” Tuesday’s order stated.Further noting that broadcasters and digital news publishers are leveraging social media for their reportage but that this risks the spread of misinformation and AI-generated content, Justice Sikri issued six guidelines to be followed by the Association’s members asking them to corroborate information sourced from social media, images and videos before publishing or broadcasting them.“Merely disclaiming that the image or video is circulating on social media and that its authenticity cannot be verified will not absolve the Member of their responsibilities under the Code of Conduct,” one of the guidelines says.All six guidelines are reproduced below:1. All information, images and/or videos gathered from social media must be verified by the Member to be accurate before broadcasting/publishing.2. Wherever possible, all such information, images and/or videos should be corroborated by on-ground reporting and from other reliable sources, such as eyewitness testimonies, police and government official accounts.3. As far as feasible, the authenticity of the images and/or videos should be fact-checked for distortion/manipulation and/or for being Al-generated.4. Content should not be presented out of context as reporting information, images and videos, which, although authentic, but out of context may lead to misinformation.5. Furthermore, any use of content on social media while reporting any news relating to any military operation, armed conflict, internal disturbance, communal violence, public disorder, crime and other similar situations should be tested on the touchstone of “public interest” AND “accuracy”.6. Merely disclaiming that the image or video is circulating on social media and that its authenticity cannot be verified will not absolve the Member of their responsibilities under the Code of Conduct.