Published 15:22 IST, August 28th 2019
'Shameful!': Foreign media bias exposed by J&K officer, netizens livid
On Tuesday, a vigilant police officer discovered that a BBC Urdu news report from Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) had contained what many in the news media call slant.
The BBC has yet again courted controversy over its reportage from Jammu and Kashmir. On Wednesday, a vigilant police officer discovered that a BBC Urdu news report from Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) had contained what many in the news media would label as slant. As per Imtiyaz Hussain, a police officer from J&K, the reporter from BBC Urdu wrote a story about stone-pelting incident in the region, where he justified the killing of the truck driver by stone pelters. The reporter had written that the stone-pelters attacked the truck as it was also carrying security personnel and thought the vehicle belonged to the Armed Forces, Hussain said.
J&K police officer calls out BBC
Hussain called out the clear bias of the BBC reporter who and slammed him for it. He tweeted the report and said that such journalists should be filled with shame. He also took a screenshot of the report in case the BBC Urdu website removed the article or made any changes to it. See his tweet on the BBC story below:
Netizens slam BBC for its 'bias'
The J&K cop also commented about the lowering of journalistic standards. He said that journalism which absolves murders cannot be termed as journalism. He also expressed horror over how an educated person can condone the killing of another human being.
Several said that BBC does not hold up to the journalistic values a news site is expected of. Netizens called the writing 'irresponsible' and ' unethical. Some even called for its ban. Read the comments below.
@BBC has consistently played an irresponsible & unethical role regarding their 'stories' from Kashmir!
— RD (@DharRenuka) August 27, 2019
Read the controversial line from BBC here
The BBC Urdu website allegedly deleted the sentence which carried the bias of its author. However, the cop from Kashmir said he had taken a screenshot of the story. He posted the screenshot of the story and said that he had saved the image in case the BBC website modifies the article. Below its the screenshot of the alleged controversial story with the sentence showing the slant.
Here's what the controversial line means, as per a Twitter user
As per a Twitter user, the highlighted line reads: The youth assumed that that the truck was carrying Forces as the civilian truck had a large number (of security personnel). The Twitter user claims he learnt Urdu in school. He added that Urdu was compulsory for students till Class VIII in J&K.
BBC has not clarified over the controversy. So it not known whether it was poor sentence framing or the journalist' bias slipping into the story. Republic will keep you updated with the latest news on the matter.
Updated 16:31 IST, August 28th 2019