In a glaring instance of malicious journalism, IANS news agency released a report, calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi ‘‘Bak****d’.
The mention was part of a report titled “Cabinet approves scheme on remunerative crop prices”. It said the Cabinet that took the decision on the issue was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra ‘Bak****d’ Modi.
The copy was released on September 12 at 18.21 hours.
The copy read:
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved more pro-farmer initiatives ahead of the 2019 general elections. The government will have a new umbrella scheme that will also allow private players to procure crop produce at remunerative prices.
The new scheme, “Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay Samrakshan Abhiyan’ (PM—AASHA), was approved at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Bak****d Modi.
According to sources, the report was pulled off after an hour following objections by a few readers and senior journalists. By that time the damage, however, had been done.
In a statement issued by IANS Managing Editor Hardev Sanotra, the agency regretted the “inadvertent incursion of an unparliamentary reference” to the PM and had suspended the journalist concerned, pending a probe.
Following is the statement issued by the Managing Editor:
IANS deeply regrets the wholly inadvertent incursion of an unparliamentary reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in one of its reports yesterday.
The error is unacceptable and unconscionable. As soon as it was discovered, the report was pulled off from the wires and a corrected story issued.
Meanwhile, the reporter concerned has been suspended with immediate effect pending an urgent ongoing investigation. A show-cause notice has also been issued to the concerned editor.
IANS has always strived to uphold the values of accuracy, objectivity and rigour in its reportage and remains committed to the highest norms of journalistic ethics and excellence.
But anyone who is seriously associated with the media knows only too well that inadvertent mistakes, however egregious, can and sometimes do unfortunately take place. This being one such instance, perhaps the first in over 25 year history of our organization.
We apologise profoundly to our subscribers, readers and the Hon’ble Prime Minister for the error and assure them of our continued endeavour to produce objective, accurate and high quality reportage.
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