Zee News: Hindi news channel of Zee Media and the Essel Group

Overview

Zee News is a Hindi-language television news channel from India launched in 1999, owned by Zee Media Corporation Limited (ZMCL) of the Subhash Chandra family’s Essel Group — a ratings leader in Hindi news whose record includes repeated broadcast-regulator findings against its coverage, including two fines in 2026 (Media Ownership Monitor; LiveLaw; Maktoob Media).

The channel grew out of Zee TV’s nightly news programming in the late 1990s and became the flagship news brand of a network that now spans national, business, and regional channels plus the global English channel WION (Media Ownership Monitor; MediaNews4U). Its reporting on national politics is among the coverage cited in accounts of the 2020 Deputy Chairman Rajya Sabha election, which is why this profile exists in the FactsLedger loop. This profile is about Zee News the channel — not Zee TV, the entertainment channel, and not Zee Entertainment Enterprises, the separate entertainment company.

Origins and ownership: a channel inside a family holding maze

Zee News traces its origins to 1998, when Zee TV — the satellite entertainment channel Subhash Chandra is credited with starting in 1992 — carried a prime-time news show every night alongside the EL-TV infotainment channel; a full-scale channel was launched as Zee News in 1999 (Media Ownership Monitor). The channel sits inside Zee Media Corporation Limited, part of the Chandra family’s Essel Group (Media Ownership Monitor).

The ownership chain is the part of this story most coverage skips. The Media Ownership Monitor reconstructed it through layered holding companies: Sushila Goenka, wife of Subhash Chandra, held 35.24% of Zee Media through Sprit Textile Private Limited, and Chandra himself held a further 5.65% traceable share, with the public holding 30.89% and the remainder obscured by heavy cross-shareholding among six intermediate companies (Media Ownership Monitor). Chandra himself was elected to the Rajya Sabha, India’s upper house, as an Independent from Haryana with the help of Bharatiya Janata Party lawmakers, and the channel is perceived as closer to the BJP in its content (Media Ownership Monitor). That combination — a news channel owned by a sitting lawmaker’s family, with ownership routed through a web of private companies — is the structural fact behind much of the criticism the channel draws.

By 2026 the operating leadership had changed hands: Raktim Das was CEO of Zee Media, describing Zee News and Zee Business as the company’s flagship brands, with WION at the centre of its global ambitions and Zee Bharat being repositioned for a younger audience (MediaNews4U). The same report says the company was integrating AI-led tools across newsrooms and content workflows, aimed at reporting, operational processes, and data-driven storytelling (MediaNews4U).

Reach and position: second in Hindi news, and a business that turned

In Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) data for the first week of 2019, Zee News ranked second behind Aaj Tak among Hindi news channels overall, second in urban markets, and fourth in rural markets (Media Ownership Monitor). That single statistic captures the channel’s standing: a clear national number two in the country’s largest news market, stronger in cities than in villages — which implies its editorial choices land hardest on the urban, Hindi-speaking audience that advertisers prize most.

The network around the channel kept widening. Zee Media added a second Hindi news channel, Zee Hindustan, formatted without anchors; Zee News itself switched from paid to free-to-air; and its digital platform added five new language sites in Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, and Gujarati (Media Ownership Monitor). Financially, the parent company reported a sharp turn in the quarter ended June 30, 2026: advertising revenue of Rs 1,797.1 million, up 47.7% year on year; operating revenue of Rs 1,908.5 million; operating profit (EBITDA) of Rs 162.6 million; and subscription revenue of Rs 111.4 million (MediaNews4U). The same quarter’s editorial operations centred on election coverage — West Bengal elections through Zee News and Zee 24 Ghanta, with constituency-level ground reporting — plus regional-network coverage of elections in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam, and Puducherry (MediaNews4U).

Measure	Figure	Source
Hindi news rank, overall (BARC, first week 2019)	2nd, behind Aaj Tak	Media Ownership Monitor
Hindi news rank, urban (same week)	2nd	Media Ownership Monitor
Hindi news rank, rural (same week)	4th	Media Ownership Monitor
ZMCL advertising revenue, Q1 FY27	Rs 1,797.1 million (+47.7% YoY)	MediaNews4U
ZMCL operating revenue, Q1 FY27	Rs 1,908.5 million (+4.7% YoY)	MediaNews4U
ZMCL operating profit (EBITDA), Q1 FY27	Rs 162.6 million	MediaNews4U

(The table distills the Media Ownership Monitor’s BARC figures and MediaNews4U’s Q1 FY27 results.)

Controversies and regulatory findings

The most serious controversy in the channel’s history broke in 2012. Zee News editor Sudhir Chaudhary and Zee Business editor Samir Ahluwalia were arrested on extortion charges after Jindal Steel and Power Ltd. (JSPL) complained that Rs 100 crore had been demanded in the form of advertisements to dilute the channel’s campaign against the business group over the alleged coal block allocation scam (The Hindu). JSPL chairman Naveen Jindal released video recordings allegedly showing the editors seeking the payment in return for not airing damaging stories; the channel refuted the claims as an attempt to malign the network, and forensic examination later established the footage as genuine, according to The Hindu (The Hindu). The case’s later outcome was not confirmed from a full-read source in this pass and is not asserted here.

Regulatory findings have continued into 2026. In September 2026, the News Broadcasting & Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA) fined Zee News Rs 2 lakh over its coverage of Palestine solidarity slogans at a student protest at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), finding that the channel had omitted the protest’s principal purpose — a fee hike and restoration of the Students’ Union — and that tickers such as “AMU में फिलिस्तीन प्रेमी गैंग” (“Palestine lover gang in AMU”) gave the event an inflammatory twist (LiveLaw). The Authority ordered the footage removed from the channel’s website, YouTube, and other platforms (LiveLaw).

In February 2026, the NBDSA fined Zee News Rs 1 lakh and ordered an apology over a programme titled “ट्रक पर नमाज…जम्मू में नया बवाल शुरू!” (“Namaz on a truck… new uproar begins in Jammu!”), which falsely linked a traffic jam on the Jammu–Srinagar National Highway to a truck driver offering namaz; the Authority held the presentation breached neutrality and responsible reporting and ordered the videos removed (Maktoob Media). The same report records a pattern: in 2023 the Authority directed an apology and fine over a debate show found to use communal overtones, and in another case ordered a takedown and penalty for unverified claims targeting a minority community in coverage of alleged “land jihad” narratives (Maktoob Media). An earlier, widely noted episode involved the channel’s DNA show describing a “revolutionary new chip” embedded in every new Rs 2,000 note that could track it — a claim later debunked as fake news by the Reserve Bank of India (Media Ownership Monitor).

Frequently asked questions

What is Zee News? Zee News is a Hindi-language television news channel from India, launched in 1999 and owned by Zee Media Corporation of the Subhash Chandra family’s Essel Group. It is the flagship news brand of a network spanning national, business, and regional channels plus the global English channel WION, and it ranked second among Hindi news channels in early 2019 ratings.

Who owns Zee News? Zee News is owned by Zee Media Corporation Limited, part of the Essel Group controlled by the family of founder Subhash Chandra. Ownership researchers traced 35.24% to Chandra’s wife Sushila Goenka and a further 5.65% directly traceable to Chandra, with the public holding 30.89% and the rest obscured by cross-shareholding.

Is Zee News biased? Critics, including the Media Ownership Monitor, describe the channel as perceived to be closer to the Bharatiya Janata Party in its content, noting that owner Subhash Chandra won a Rajya Sabha seat with BJP lawmakers’ help. The channel has not accepted that characterisation. The broadcast regulator has repeatedly found specific broadcasts in breach of neutrality standards.

What has the NBDSA ordered against Zee News? In 2026 the NBDSA fined Zee News Rs 2 lakh over its AMU protest coverage and ordered footage removed; in February 2026 it fined the channel Rs 1 lakh and ordered an apology over the “Truck Par Namaz” broadcast. In 2023 it had directed an apology and fine over a debate show and a takedown over unverified “land jihad” claims.

How is Zee News performing financially? Its parent, Zee Media, reported Q1 FY27 advertising revenue of Rs 1,797.1 million, up 47.7% year on year, with operating revenue of Rs 1,908.5 million and EBITDA of Rs 162.6 million. The company names Zee News and Zee Business as flagship brands and says it is diversifying beyond advertising-led revenue.

Timeline

• 1992 — Subhash Chandra is credited with starting Zee TV, described as India’s first satellite television entertainment channel (Media Ownership Monitor).
• 1998 — Zee News traces its origins to Zee TV’s nightly prime-time news show and the EL-TV channel (Media Ownership Monitor).
• 1999 — A full-scale channel launches as Zee News (Media Ownership Monitor).
• 2012 — Zee News editor Sudhir Chaudhary and Zee Business editor Samir Ahluwalia are arrested on extortion charges after a JSPL complaint; the channel denies the allegations (The Hindu).
• 2019 — BARC data for the first week of 2019 places Zee News second behind Aaj Tak in Hindi news overall, second in urban and fourth in rural markets (Media Ownership Monitor).
• 2026 — The NBDSA fines Zee News Rs 2 lakh over AMU protest coverage (LiveLaw).
• 2026 — The NBDSA fines Zee News Rs 1 lakh and orders an apology over the “Truck Par Namaz” broadcast (Maktoob Media).
• 2026 — Zee Media reports Q1 FY27 advertising revenue of Rs 1,797.1 million, up 47.7% year on year (MediaNews4U).

What this profile does not claim

• It does not assert an exact launch day; only the year 1999 is confirmed from sources read in full.
• It does not assert the outcome of the 2012 Jindal extortion case beyond the arrests and the channel’s denial.
• It does not assert a current ratings position; the latest verified figure is from the first week of 2019.
• It does not assert that the channel is editorially directed by the BJP — it reports the perception recorded by the Media Ownership Monitor and the fact of Chandra’s Rajya Sabha election with BJP lawmakers’ help.
• It does not resolve whether the channel’s headquarters is in Noida or Mumbai; secondary listings differ and no full-read source settled it.
• It does not treat the Media Ownership Monitor’s 2019-era ownership and staffing picture as current; later changes beyond the 2026 CEO were not verified.
• It does not cover the channel’s programming slate, anchors, or digital audience in detail — outside this research pass.

Sources

• Media Ownership Monitor (Reporters Without Borders / Global Media Registry) — Zee News | Media Ownership Monitor (tier2; launch, origins, ownership chain, BARC ratings, Zee Hindustan, digital expansion, chip claim, Chaudhary role)
• The Hindu — Zee editors arrested (tier1; 2012 arrests, JSPL complaint, Jindal recordings, channel denial, forensic finding)
• LiveLaw — NBDSA Fines Zee News ₹2 Lakh For ‘Inflammatory’ Coverage Of AMU Palestine Solidarity Slogans, Directs Removal (tier2; September 2026 NBDSA fine, AMU coverage findings, removal order)
• Maktoob Media — NBDSA fines Zee News over ‘Truck Par Namaz’ broadcast, apology ordered (tier2; 2026 NBDSA fine and apology, 2023 pattern of findings)
• MediaNews4U — Zee Media reports 47.7% surge in advertising revenue in Q1 FY27 (tier2; Q1 FY27 results, CEO Raktim Das, flagship brands, WION, Zee Bharat, AI in newsrooms, election coverage)