Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Gulf News, not again!


I have been debating with myself over the last few weeks/days on whether I should write this post or not. And there are many reasons for which it should not be written, especially by a journalist for it’s only a journalist who understands that a newspaper is made/created/written by a human being hence errors are bound to happen. I too, have made some at my job and am sure will make some in future too. But today what got me pen this was yet another ‘slip’ in the Gulf News!!

In The Views section of Gulf News August 27th on Page A 27 (http://gulfnews.com/opinions/offthecuff/he-grew-up-in-jail-to-free-his-mother-1.1224232) is a piece titled, ‘He grew up in jail to win his mother’s freedom’. The moment I saw the headline I knew I had it read somewhere recently! The same piece penned with full details (Name, Age) had appeared a few weeks back in Gulf News’ Friday magazine (http://fridaymagazine.ae/features/the-big-story/freed-after-20-years-by-son-i-had-in-prison-1.1207832). While, I was surprised to see the same piece (written by different writers) appear yet again in the pages published by Gulf News, what also shocked me was the fact that this particular one didn’t carry any name (Assuming the names were not to be kept anonymous for the sake of the people involved, wondering why they were not there) and read like a piece of fiction. Two, the tone of the piece in terms of how the husband’s relationship was with the wife, who was in the prison, felt like we were talking of two different people! Three, the amount that the son paid to free the mother, two varied in the two pieces. I am not 100 per cent sure if they were talking of the same mother-son but one read and you would know it is.  Shocking that there is no check to ensure pieces are not repeated or factual errors are not made or stories are printed with complete information. Talking about a few days back I was flipping through the Tabloid! Section of Gulf News wherein I found two events being listed twice! I understand we all live in the world of Copy & Paste but a little thorough won’t harm anyone. At another time, when I called to attend an event I was told it was not scheduled for the day at all! Another slip that comes to my mind, which spoilt my morning cup of coffee, was the misspelling of Red Fort. Another one where the name of actress Vidya Balan was spelt incorrectly in the headline…

The list is long. The work of running a paper is tedious. But then, tomorrow is a new day!

  
Image: here

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