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Thursday, Nov 10, 2005

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When the media bungled

A TV channel flashed the death `news' when K.R. Narayanan's condition was only `critical'

New Delhi: A number of television news channels bungled on Wednesday in reporting the ``passing away'' of the former President of India, K.R. Narayanan.

Around noon, one channel flashed the death `news.' Soon, other channels joined the chorus, but it turned out that at the time the former President was only ``critically ill.'' The hospital authorities had to deny the `news.'

The wrong "news" flash came soon after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visited the Army R&R Hospital. Journalists at the hospital, who were not getting `authentic information' about the health of K. R. Narayanan's health, jumped to conclusions.

This is not the first time that the competition for `scoops' has led to such mistakes.

Jagjivan Ram's death

In June 1986, the All India Radio made a mistake in announcing the death of Jagjivan Ram, then a member of Parliament, who was being treated at the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. The former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, was `informed' by a confidant, that the leader was no more when he arrived at the airport to board a plane to Mauritius.

Rajiv Gandhi immediately drove to the hospital from the airport. Presspersons, who were at the airport, on the basis of discussions at the departure lounge, reported that Jagjivan Ram was no more. All India Radio too broadcast the news in its early morning bulletins. It was only after Rajiv Gandhi returned to Palam that it was known that Jagivan Ram was still ``critically ill''.

AIR and news agencies corrected the information with profuse apologies soon after. There was a controversy on whether Babuji was alive or being kept alive on life support systems. The Government conducted an inquiry and rules were framed for All India Radio to be observed before it broadcast any news about the death of a VIP. — ANI

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