More than 400 military veterans have written a letter to news agency Thomson Reuters, to complain about its partner Asian News International (ANI) over alleged bias in its news reportage towards the ruling dispensation.
“We believe that ANI has acted at the behest of India’s ruling party to manipulate quotes and defame our honourable intentions,” Major Priyadarshi Chowdhury (retd) said, in the letter.
The veterans also flagged ANI’s biased and ‘defamatory’ coverage of a petition filed by them earlier in the month before President Ram Nath Kovind and the Election Commission, on the rampant politicisation of the armed forces for electoral gains.
In its coverage about the letter to the president, ANI had quoted former army vice-chief, Lt General ML Naidu, as saying: “No, my consent was not taken for any such letter and neither have I written any such letter”.
Naidu, however, had alleged that ANI had misquoted him.
However, as The Telegraph points out, Major Chowdhury, who had written the letter to the president, had then released a mail-chain online to show that the two officers had endorsed the contents.
These discrepancies, in ANI’s reportage, have been enlisted in the letter.
“In our opinion, ANI’s conduct tantamounts to being perfidious with a view to influence the ongoing elections, in India, in a biased manner,” the letter said.
Major Chowdhury also asked Reuters to furnish the following information:
“Thomson Reuters commands respect and trust the world over, and in recognition of this, we hope for a reply addressing our concerns,” the letter said.
(With inputs from The Telegraph India)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)