A mail from Leslee Udwin – a copy of which is with dna – nails Times Now over its stand on the banned documentary, India's Daughter, on the Nirbhaya rape case.
Udwin is the director of the BBC documentary.
From the email trail, it is obvious Udwin is furious over Times Now giving the short shrift to the basic journalistic tenet of speaking to the other side.
The trail started on March 7, 2015, when VP, News Operations, Times Now, Hector Kenneth, sent her a mail at 09:26 from his timesgroup email, in which he addresses the filmmaker as Ms Udwin.
Kenneth's first question: "There are News reports that Rs 40,000 was paid to 2012 Delhi gang rape accused Mukesh Singh for his interview by the makers of the documentary, India's Daughter."
"I am glad you have reached out to me for comment, this is what professional journalists should always do as you know, and sadly that professionalism has been sorely lacking from Times Now to-date," Udwin replied.
"I have been particularly dismayed to see the hate-campaign waged by the Channel against a public interest documentary without even having seen it. I have struggled long and hard to understand where this regrettable impulse is coming from and I can only assume that it must be born of professional rivalry with NDTV and perhaps jealousy," she said.
Asking Kenneth to feel free to quote from what she's said, she again underlines, "An (sic) I repeat, I DO genuinely appreciate you being the FIRST EVER Times Now journalist who has taken the trouble to ask me for comment. In fact I recommend you take over the leadership of the Channel! (She uses upper case)."
Her answer to Kenneth's question whether Mukesh Singh has been paid? "This is absolute nonsense and strenuously denied."
His next question: "Did anyone associated with the production at any time pay Mukesh Singh or any other accused for the interview?
"Absolutely not. Nor were any other interviewees in the film paid any consideration whatsoever," replies Udwin.
In reply to pointed queries on whether any money was paid to the family of the convicts in the case or any intermediary to secure the interview, too, Udwin replies in the negative.
When dna called Kenneth he admitted to getting the mail from Udwin.
"I had written to her for comment for a story and we got her reply," he said, suggesting it was a normal interaction.
When this correspondent drew his attention to how the film-maker pointedly underlines in her mail how he is the "FIRST EVER Times Now journalist who has taken the trouble to ask me for comment," Kenneth seemed on the back foot.
While agreeing he believed "no story should be carried without speaking to all the people involved," he refused to comment on why Times Now didn't care about this simple tenet.
"That was not my call. You will have to ask the person whose call it was." He cut the phone when asked why Times Now had not made the complete contents of the mail from Udwin public.
Though he did not categorically name channel chief Arnab Goswami, dna which always believes in getting all sides of the story, reached out to the popular TV anchor for a response.
"We stand by our stand that a rapist should not be interviewed because it amounts to voyeurism," Goswami told dna. "Has any media in the UK or US ever interviewed a rapist? Can you find any such interview in the BBC's archives? No one does that because its not done. Otherwise, tomorrow people will start interviewing paedophiles too."
