Aaj Tak (transl. Until Today) is an Indian leading Hindi-language news channel owned by TV Today Network, part of the New Delhi-based media conglomerate Living Media group (India Today Group).[1]
On 14 December 2018, Aaj Tak launched India's first Hindi high-definition channel, Aaj Tak HD.[2]Aaj Tak HD broadcasts news and two extra shows like Duniya Aaj Tak aired from 2019 (transl. World up to the minute) covering world news, Business Aaj Tak aired from 2019 (transl. Business up to the minute) covering the financial news of India and the world.
Aaj Tak HD also broadcast Movie Masala between 2019 and 2020 (transl. Movie Spice), covering the news of Bollywood.
Aaj Tak was first broadcast on DD Metro of Doordarshan (DD) in 1995. It was then broadcast as a news program of 10 to 20 minutes. Aaj Tak came into existence in December 2000 as an independent news channel. It then became the first complete Hindi news channel in the country to be broadcast twenty-four hours. One of the anchors at the time was Surendra Pratap Singh.[3][4] The tagline for Aaj Tak was『यह थी ख़बर आज तक, इंतज़ार कीजिए कल तक』(transl. That's all the news for today, wait until tomorrow).[3] Aaj Tak was the first news channel in India to use OB vans.[5]
By the time the channel came into existence, it had a reach of 52 lakh households. It now broadcasts to three crore households and its viewership in news channels is 56%.[4] On 14 December 2018, Aaj Tak launched India's first Hindi high-definition channel, Aaj Tak HD.[2] A channel rebranding took place in January 2021.[6]
The channel has been penalized for propagation of fake news and condemned for being partial and supporting the ideology of the ruling government.[9][10]
In October 2020, Aaj Tak was fined ₹1 lakh and asked to broadcast apologies for fake news regarding Sushant Singh Rajput. The channel published fabricated last tweets by the actor on the channel, claiming that they were made by him a few days before his death and then deleted. Aaj Tak later removed its article with this fake news published in it.[11]
Aaj Tak was fined ₹5 lakh by BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council) for viewership manipulation in a TRP scam.[12]
On 16 June 2021, the NBSA directed that Aaj Tak's broadcasts be taken down from all Internet platforms that linked a COVID-19 outbreak with Tablighi Jamaat in 2020, citing potential "errors in the figures telecast".[14]
The NBSA said that the media has "complete freedom to report on the Covid pandemic", but "such reporting must be done with accuracy, impartiality and neutrality", and added "NBSA noted that the broadcaster had admitted that there may have been chances that there were some miscalculations as pointed out by the complaint, which were inadvertent, and the broadcaster had no intention to communalize the issue or malign any community."[15]
In June 2022, the National Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority said that Aaj Tak's taglines on Umar Khalid ‘gave an impression that the accused had already been declared guilty’ and asked the news channel to take down those shows.[16]
In March 2023, Aaj Tak faced widespread social media ridicule after the clip of their coverage gone viral where the channel's representatives were seen filming gangster Atiq Ahmed urinating while in transit form Gujarat to Prayagraj under the custody of police.[17]
According to an old 2006 poll jointly conducted by the BBC and Reuters, of specific news sources spontaneously mentioned by Indians, Aaj Tak (mentioned by 11%) was the most trusted.[20]
^ abcSingh, Dr Paramveer (5 August 2021). "8. India Today Group.". Indian Silver Screen. K.K. Publications. pp. 147–150. Archived from the original on 9 April 2023. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
^ ab"Television". India Today Group. Archived from the original on 23 August 2021. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
