After a recent controversy for a BBC report on Fake News, Mahismati Court Reporter decided to clarify the issue directly with BBC Boss who was in lutyens Delhi for a brief visit. Below mentioned is the transcript of the interview –
MR- Mahismati Reporter
BBCB- BBC Boss
MR- Hello Sir, Thanks for the acceptance for the interview.
BBCB- Excuse me, it is to be articulated as – Thank you Sir, for accepting the request for an interview.
MR- Thanks sir for having corrected the English spoken by I.
BBCB- It should be me.
MR- Me what?
BBCB- you should have said me at the end of the sentence.
MR- Okay sir me.
BBCB- Oh, for god sake, may we maintain the continuum please?
MR- Yes sir, sure sir, definitely sir- Sir, we wanted to know your views about the recent controversy regarding the Fake News article by BBC India which turned out to be fake.
BBCB- Bullocks, the article was purely data interpretation and based on analysis by our team.
MR- but sir, the article was pulled back by BBC India.
BBCB- No, it was not, it was republished with some clarifications.
MR- Exactly, why clarifications were needed if the article was accurate.
BBCB- Oh, that happens as you people like to twist everything published in a classic news portal like BBC, what do you people say- BAAL KI KHAAL NIKALNA.
MR- Your Hindi is very good sir, anyway so you are confirming the article was factually correct and standing by it.
BBCB- I did not say that.
MR- Then what are you saying- is the article accurate or not?
BBCB- That is for the readers to decide.
MR- But readers decided that article was incorrect and one news website OpIndia also published the details why the article was fake news.
BBCB- I don’t consider that “thing” to be any news portal- it’s a propaganda machine.
MR- Do you know anything about Opinida?
BBCB- I don’t corrupt myself with such non-sense. You see, we have been in the business long enough to know such things.
MR- okay, so you are saying the article was accurate and all the people mentioned in the article are actually involved in spreading fake news.
BBCB- when did I say that? You people like putting words in the mouth, much like that horrendous Arnaabb Guswami.
MR- Sir, it is pronounced as Arnab Goswami.
BBCB- ya, ya, I don’t care.
MR- So why exactly the report was taken down from the website?
BBCB- Which report?
MR- The one about the fake news.
BBCB- It was never taken down, we republished it with some clarifications. You got to know the difference but then you people are not upto that standards, I guess.
MR- What kind of clarifications were needed?
BBCB- To explain why our fake news report was sounding like fake news?
MR- So you do accept that first draft of the report was indeed sounding like a Fake news
BBCB- I did not say that.
MR- So what did you mean?
BBCB- I meant what I meant when I said what I said.
MR- Excuse me?
BBCB- oh bloody hell, don’t you people understand simple English?
MR- Okay, moving on, Your team also apologised to certain people who were named in the report and accepted they made a mistake. What do you have to say on that?
BBCB- I don’t have that information. If they have accepted the mistake, we should applaud their journalistic ethics. Don’t know what you are complaining for!
MR- But sir, if apology has been tendered to people who were named for Fake news, it means that data in the report was not correct.
BBCB- That is one way to look at it.
MR- what is the other way to look at it?
BBCB- That is for you to decide.
MR- I consider that report was inaccurate and published erroneous data.
BBCB- that is your point of view and I reject it completely.
MR- So you consider only BBC team to have the correct point of view.
BBCB- mmm, yes, I sure hope so otherwise our credibility will be lost.
MR- That is quite elitist on your part.
BBCB- You people don’t even know the meaning of the word.
MR- So please explain to me.
BBCB- It should be I.
MR- What?
BBCB- Oh darn it.
MR- Hmm moving on, do you fear that Indian people losing trust in BBC as the result of this fake news report?
BBCB- we don’t work on expectations from you people. We decide what is news-worthy and go ahead with it.
MR- sir, so it is safe to conclude that BBC stands by the report and will continue to publish the final version on its website.
BBCB- I did not say that.
MR- I am confused now.
BBCB- Are you? Or you were just born that way.
MR- Sir, I am being polite as you are my guest.
BBCB- (murmering) Iski Maa ki Aankh…
MR- excuse me?
BBCB- I said nothing.
MR- it seemed that you said Iski maa ki aankh.
BBCB- you are hallucinating.
MR- am I?
BBCB- I don’t know, you ask a doctor.
MR- anyways, thank you for your precious time and we will be publishing this interview in our website without any edit.
BBCB- I sure do hope so or I have a legal team waiting to pounce on you. We don’t let anyone steal the narrative.
MR- What?
BBCB- Enough of this crap now, I am ending this here.
