How the media made more of a blooper than Prakash Javadekar

There was a time — till about two months ago — when anything related to the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) and its minister made news. Not just news, both Smriti Irani and her ministry made the front page, breaking and primetime news. That is no longer true with a relatively low-profile Prakash Javadekar at the helm of affairs.

But it seems it’ll take some time before news media adjusts to this change in portfolio and, umm, news flow. How else would you explain the totally needless ‘controversy’ around Javadekar’s remarks on freedom fighters today at the Tiranga Rally in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara district? Nearly all media outlets, from mainstream newspapers to new media websites to TV channels, went to town, putting Javadekar down for his speech. Why? Because he allegedly claimed Subhash Chandra Bose, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel went to the gallows fighting for independence.

Consider these headlines:

Times of India: Minister Javadekar may need to brush up on his history

The Hindustan Times: Javadekar rewrites history, says Nehru and Patel were hanged

India TV: Rewriting history! HRD minister Prakash Javdekar says Nehru, Patel, Bose were hanged

DNA: Watch Prakash Javadekar’s blooper: HRD Minister says Nehru & Patel were hanged

Jagran Post: Prakash Javadekar Gets His History Wrong Says Netaji Nehru Patel Were Hanged

Deccan Herald: Javadekar says British hanged Nehru, Netaji, Patel (video)

Zee News: Prakash Javadekar commits a blooper, says Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Subhas Chandra Bose were hanged

The Quint: History Classes in Order? HRD Min Javadekar Says Nehru Was Hanged

Janta Ka Reporter: History lesson by Prakash Javdekar, says Nehru and Patel were hanged

Scroll.in: Prakash Javadekar gets his facts wrong, says Jawaharlal Nehru, Netaji and Sardar Patel were hanged

DailyO: History hangs in shame: Did Prakash Javadekar say Nehru was hanged?

India Today: Did Prakash Javadekar just say Bose, Nehru were hanged?

The news seems to have originated from news agency, ANI’s Twitter handle.

In the tweet, ANI does not place a comma after “Rajguru”, which gives you the impression that Javadekar may indeed be in need of history lessons. But listen to the video carefully and you’ll notice that Javadekar gives a slight pause before Rajguru.

Here’s what he says:

“Kitne veer…Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Sardar Patel, Pandit Nehru…Bhagat Singh…Raj Guru…sabhi jo phansi par chade, Krantiveer Savarka Ji…baaki mahan swatantra senaani…kitni lathiya khayein, kitni goliyan khayein.” (“So many bravehearts…Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Sardar Patel, Pandit Nehru…Bhagat Singh…Raj Guru…all who went to the gallows, Krantiveer Savarka Ji…took so many blows, so many bullets.”)

If you watch Javadekar carefully, it’s very clear he’s merely listing out freedom fighters. And even if it’s not, suggesting that he asserted that Nehru, Bose and Patel went to the gallows is nothing short of a giant leap of imagination or a deliberate spin.

Javadekar, of course, has come out with a clarification stating that he is amused at the reports. More amusing, though, is how many in the news media are trying to salvage the situation.

The Hindustan Times that led with the headline “Javadekar rewrites history, says Nehru and Patel were hanged”, conveniently changed the headline. It now reads: “Prakash Javadekar ‘salutes’ freedom fighters for their struggle”. At the end of the copy, instead of placing a correction, they have put in a line stating: “This story has been modified to reflect the minister’s statement.” Because earlier the story was meant to reflect the writer’s imagination?

How tough would it have been to place a simple correction stating that they got it wrong?

Scroll.in has pulled down the story, which is surprising for a new media organisation. Surely, they’d know a thing or two about web caches. Again, why not admit the mistake rather than pull down the story and pretend like it never happened?

TOI decided it was too big to apologise and posted a new piece. This time, headlined: Minister Prakash Javadekar needs to brush up on his elocution skills? This is how the piece begins: “A video from earlier today seemed to suggest HRD minister Prakash Javadekar needs to brush up on his history, but it may be he needs to actually hone his elocution skills, or their lack thereof.”

There’s no mention of TOI needing to brush up on its journalism.

Aaj Tak, too, conveniently changed the headline to later reflect Javadekar’s clarification. Notice how both India Today and DailyO keep it noncommittal in their headlines by placing question marks, while the body copies hint at how awful this statement is coming from an education minister.

Web desks across industry are under-paid and over-burdened. Monthly ‘hits’ define advertising revenues and so web journalism, so to speak, is mostly a numbers game in which quality is a casualty. In such a scenario, it’s understandable for journalists to make mistakes. What is incomprehensible, though, is the deliberate spin to create controversies out of the slightest of issues or remarks.

Moreover, the absolute refusal to issue clarifications and corrections goes against the very grain of media accountability. Indeed, the next time we complain about being treated with suspicion and mistrust by news consumers, we must think if we have tried hard enough to retain it in the first place.

Update: Scroll.in has updated the piece with a clarification: “The earlier version of this story, entitled “Prakash Javadekar gets his facts wrong, says Jawaharlal Nehru, Netaji and Sardar Patel were hanged” erroneously suggested the minister had made a mistake.”

The author can be contacted at manisha.pande1110@gmail.com and on Twitter @MnshaP