Prasar Bharati probes as DD anchor's goof up goes viral

PTI, PANAJI | 30 November 2014 19:20 IST

After a clip featuring portions of a "clueless" live presentation by a Doordarshan anchor on the inauguration day of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) went viral on social media, Prasar Bharati has deputed a senior officer to look into the matter.

The Doordarshan anchor is also seen introducing the Governor of Goa Mridula Sinha as the "Governor of India" in the clip posted on YouTube. The clip attracted much criticism for Doordarshan on social media.

A senior official said the presentation by the anchor on DD National channel, in which she talks to a number of people arriving for the film festival in Goa, was carried live on 20 November, the opening day of IFFI.

The DD anchor is also seen introducing the Governor of Goa Mridula Sinha as the "Governor of India" in the clip.

"Subsequently, an edited clip of nearly four minutes duration was posted by someone on the YouTube which went viral. A senior ADG rank official of All India Radio has been asked to look into the matter," a senior official said.

The official added it appeared that the anchor, a casual employee, has not been thoroughly prepared to carry out the live presentation and at moments appeared "clueless".

When contacted, Prasar Bharati CEO Jawahar Sircar said the public broadcaster was looking into the matter and "gaffes" cannot be allowed to go on.

He, however, added that with 18,000 vacancies in regular posts and no regular recruitment in the last 20 years the Station Directors had to take all types of casual employees and not all are skilled enough.

"But whenever we talk of skill tests, there is uproar among casuals. We'll push it or face gaffe after gaffe. With the supervisory programme cadre almost dead (180 vacancies out of 191), who will check the gaffes?" Sircar said. He added that "with the new set-up quite resolute, we hope to execute improvements".

Doordarshan had been in news for the past also for embarassing goof-ups including one in which an anchor on DD News mistook the name of visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping for Roman numeral and pronounced it as eleven.

In another instance, a visual of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was put on air before a news segment carrying news related to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's US visit.


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