Abingdonboy
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"I disown this report and disassociate myself completely from it. It should have been attributed not to me but the person responsible for introducing gross distortions. I've seen nothing like this in my 19 years as a reporter, 15 of which were with the Hindustan Times & CNN-IBN. This is serious breach of journalistic ethics and reflects the crisis in at least a section of the media. I wish to come out clean to protect my professional reputation."
That's Vishal Thapar's statement a moment ago to Livefist. Now, for what happened:
Indian weekend newspaper The Sunday Guardian today led prominently with this story headlined 'Typhoon, Gripen Back In Fray, Rafale Deal Split Wide Open', with my good friend and veteran defence correspondent Vishal Thapar's byline. The report outlines how India's Rafale deal is on shaky ground with the finish-line in sight, and that the Gripen and Typhoon smell blood. It's a story that's been doing the rounds, but this report rounds it up and gives it more prominence than most others, which have only insinuated the possibility of trouble. But here's what happened just 90 minutes after the newspaper tweeted out the story after midnight last night:
I disown this report: "@SundayGuardian Typhoon, Gripen back in fray, Rafale deal split wide open @thaparvishal:Typhoon, Gripen back in fray, Rafale deal split wide open"
— Vishal Thapar (@thaparvishal) June 28, 2014
Thapar bolstered this by posting the following on a Facebook group populated and run by Indian defence correspondents:
Before sending my the statement at the top of this post, an angry Vishal said what happened was a 'grave distortion' and 'completely unethical'.
While Vishal has unequivocally disowned the report, the questions now, of course, are as follows: Why has Vishal distanced himself from the report? Whose introduced the distortions and why? Is the report incorrect? Are there vested interests at play? Who?
Livefist: Indian Newspaper Flies With MMRCA Ditch Story, Journalist Disowns
@sancho @Dillinger @Koovie @COLDHEARTED AVIATOR @Sidak @kurup @Water Car Engineer @Oscar @Aeronaut @Chinese-Dragon @500 @Penguin @jiki @Span @nair @Fulcrum15 @Omega007 @kbd-raaf @sandy_3126 @Capt.Popeye @KRAIT @arp2041 @Daedalus @Mike_Brando @acetophenol @jbgt90 @Joe Shearer @sudhir007 @OrionHunter @500 @vinod.kumar @Contrarian @Fulcrum15 @patentneer @NSG_BlackCats @Roybot @levina @UKBengali @Sidak @BDforever @Kloitra @sudair rahi @GORKHALI @
This is a serious issue, whilst this one story can now be discredited it points to a very sinister idea- there are elements in the Indian media who are clearly on the payroll of certain foreign entities. Whilst it has been suggested for a while this is BLATANT proof. When you can't trust the media it is a very distressing situation....
That's Vishal Thapar's statement a moment ago to Livefist. Now, for what happened:
Indian weekend newspaper The Sunday Guardian today led prominently with this story headlined 'Typhoon, Gripen Back In Fray, Rafale Deal Split Wide Open', with my good friend and veteran defence correspondent Vishal Thapar's byline. The report outlines how India's Rafale deal is on shaky ground with the finish-line in sight, and that the Gripen and Typhoon smell blood. It's a story that's been doing the rounds, but this report rounds it up and gives it more prominence than most others, which have only insinuated the possibility of trouble. But here's what happened just 90 minutes after the newspaper tweeted out the story after midnight last night:
I disown this report: "@SundayGuardian Typhoon, Gripen back in fray, Rafale deal split wide open @thaparvishal:Typhoon, Gripen back in fray, Rafale deal split wide open"
— Vishal Thapar (@thaparvishal) June 28, 2014
Thapar bolstered this by posting the following on a Facebook group populated and run by Indian defence correspondents:
Before sending my the statement at the top of this post, an angry Vishal said what happened was a 'grave distortion' and 'completely unethical'.
While Vishal has unequivocally disowned the report, the questions now, of course, are as follows: Why has Vishal distanced himself from the report? Whose introduced the distortions and why? Is the report incorrect? Are there vested interests at play? Who?
Livefist: Indian Newspaper Flies With MMRCA Ditch Story, Journalist Disowns
@sancho @Dillinger @Koovie @COLDHEARTED AVIATOR @Sidak @kurup @Water Car Engineer @Oscar @Aeronaut @Chinese-Dragon @500 @Penguin @jiki @Span @nair @Fulcrum15 @Omega007 @kbd-raaf @sandy_3126 @Capt.Popeye @KRAIT @arp2041 @Daedalus @Mike_Brando @acetophenol @jbgt90 @Joe Shearer @sudhir007 @OrionHunter @500 @vinod.kumar @Contrarian @Fulcrum15 @patentneer @NSG_BlackCats @Roybot @levina @UKBengali @Sidak @BDforever @Kloitra @sudair rahi @GORKHALI @
This is a serious issue, whilst this one story can now be discredited it points to a very sinister idea- there are elements in the Indian media who are clearly on the payroll of certain foreign entities. Whilst it has been suggested for a while this is BLATANT proof. When you can't trust the media it is a very distressing situation....
