The Media is known to often make glaring mistakes on occasion. It is known to have journalists inject their personal bias into reports. Many times, when caught, some media houses choose to quietly update their story and others, brazen it out.
Something similar happened last night with News18. Earlier, they had reported on how the RSS backed Bharatiya Shikshan Mandal presented its points to the Committee headed by K Kasturirangan for drafting the policy, recommending a formula with less emphasis on English.
The crux of the issue was rather simple. Sanskrit might soon become compulsory for 9 to 12 and if a student doesn’t want to learn Sanskrit, they would have the option of learning Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Latin or Greek.
The spin given by News18, however, downright insulted the classical language of Sanskrit and propped Arabic as the preferred language.
News18 wrote how the “dreaded shabd roop” that made students “sweat during middle school” may return soon to “haunt” and students can “get rid of the subject” and “look for respite in Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Latin and Greek”.
This perceived insult to the Sanskrit language created quite the furore on Social Media.
https://twitter.com/swati_gs/status/1010108496828882944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
https://twitter.com/hsraghav/status/1010169488380084226?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
CNN-News18 realised their folly soon and decided to update their story. The paragraph has now been replaced with a simple statement of fact sans the judgement.
The report, as can be seen, was quietly updated at 9:56 PM on 22nd June (last night) without so much as an Editor’s note pointing at the update or an apology issued by the publication.
Perhaps it would bode well for Media houses to exercise some amount of Editorial restraint and vigilance when it comes to blatant anti-Hindu sentiments or tangential judgements that offend sections of the society.