A front-page mea culpa in The Times of India, Bangalore, to the vice-president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), K. Govindraj. Govindraj had hit the headlines in June 2006 when he was reported as having allegedly molested a masseuse at the Commonwealth games in Melbourne.
Image: courtesy The Times of India
This is an abject apology by the newspaper.
But where was the need for “discreet enquiries”?
in journalism, what TOI did is considered the gravest of libel.
an apology might mitigate the damages in a plaintiff award, but it cannot pre-empt a libel conviction.
plus, TOI’s use of the word “apologies” seems casual, even insincere. the formal and proper expression would be “apology”.
i agree with naran above: who the heck is TOI to make any “discrete enquiries”? that seems outright sneaky. so even while admitting a mistake, TOI comes across as irritatingly self-righteous. but i am not surprised at such corruption from a paper that pioneered a “news-for-sale” phenomenon in india’s journalism.