Doordarshan plays Beerwah visuals to portray heavy polling in Baramulla In the recently concluded elections for the phase- III, Doordarshan news reporter showed polling visuals from Beerwah and showcased same as that from Baramulla, a news agency reported. The apparent manipulation of stories about polling in Kashmir came to light when DD reporter Ashwani Mishra, who was part of the channels reporting teams that came from New Delhi, was reporting from Beerwah, but called it Baramulla, in a bid to falsely showcase heavy polling in a region which is a know resistance stronghold. It has been reliable learnt by the news agency that the reporter was perhaps under pressure to show that there was a heavy polling in Baramulla during the third phase of elections on Tuesday. He had gone to polling booths but found very few voters during the morning in Baramulla and as it was not supporting his story, he moved to Beerwah. He picked up the visuals from Beerwah and manipulated it by calling it Baramulla, the report said. It has also been learnt that he met a police officer who provided him escort for Beerwah where he went to polling booth inside a school where the voters were waiting in a long queue. Later he passed the footage as from Baramulla to mislead the audience. The Indian national news channel had been mired by numerous controversies in the recent past. One such controversy erupted when a Doordarshan news anchor was sacked after she referred to Chinese President Xi Jinping as Eleven Jinping, apparently confusing Xis name with the Roman numerals XI, a senior official at the state television channel said. While the incident could be termed as an error, the latest by no means can be weighed on same lines. In fact, it is professional dishonesty to mislead the country men about the facts related to elections, he said. Whether such manipulations can be accepted, particularly by the National TV channel awaits answer by the concerned including the Election Commission of India. While the reporter could not be contacted despite repeated attempts, Umang Narola Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said that the issue has not been brought to the notice of the commission so far. “He is not a government employee as such falls under the purview of the Press Counsel of India, he said.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 16:12:52 +0000
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