The Delhi High Court has ruled that calling a news organisation's output derogatory names or making disparaging remarks about its journalists amounts to defamation and cannot be justified as 'legitimate criticism.'
A bench of justices C Hari Shankar and Om Prakash Shukla directed digital news platform Newslaundry to take down allegedly disparaging videos and posts about the TV Today Group and its channels, Aaj Tak and India Today.
The court held that terms such as 's*** standards' and 's*** reporters' clearly go beyond the realm of criticism or review and are defamatory and disparaging.
The division bench's comments came while hearing cross appeals filed by TV Today and Newslaundry against the single judge's court order from July 2022.
The single judge had declined to direct Newslaundry to take down the allegedly defamatory content, but the division bench rejected Newslaundry's contention that the statements were made within the scope of satire and parody.
The court held that the statements were ex facie disparaging and that their continued availability online would harm TV Today's reputation.
