Home > Voices > “Quotes are Seldom Misquoted,” says a journalist

“Quotes are Seldom Misquoted,” says a journalist

18 December 2008

There is nothing more frustrating than being falsely accused of misquoting someone. It is infuriating.

You know you got the quotes right, but you have very little ability to defend yourself because you don’t have an audio recording.

Code of Ethics for journalist states that “a journalist shall not harass, intimidate or trick any person to obtain, or attempt to obtain information or pictures. In particular, he or she shall not install listening devices on anyone’s property or tape-record conversations without their consent.” If you are interviewing an official, then it is fair that you get the consent of your source. But what if someone is speaking to a mass?

On many occasions, we are victimised by bureaucrats and higher officials for not keeping them at peace. They have questioned our integrity. How good are the journalists? How experienced are they? Journalists have two choices here.

One, fabricate the stories and please the authorities. Two, follow the issue and give the right information to the public. As an independent newspaper, without shareholders or government, we are answerable only to the public.

We choose to follow the issues. Our news sources, mostly senior civil servants, give the quotes in Dzongkha and don’t know how it would sound when it is translated into English.

It is not surprising when, the next day, other papers run a front page story saying someone misquoted him/her. ‘A boneless tongue can roll anywhere,’ speaks a boneless tongue.

Take, for instance, the Prime Minister addressing the international media prior to the coronation. Stanley Johnson, father of London’s mayor, is a UK environmental journalist and came to Bhutan to report on the coronation for the highly respected Independent Newspaper Magazine. He asked the PM if there was any special package to preserve Bhutan’s biodiversity on the Eve of Coronation Celebrations.

A pertinent question asked by a journalist of the highest integrity in a properly conducted press conference. The prime minister said that as part of coronation and centenary celebration, two national parks will be inaugurated.

One, he said, was located at “Pelela, which is located 35 km from Thimphu”. We know that Pelela is about 120 km away from Thimphu. Lyonpo Jigme Y. Thinley also invited the journalists to visit the park where they will find hundreds of rhododendron which is the ‘national flower of Bhutan’ after Blue Poppy. We know that Bhutan does not have a second National Flower. Besides, the Royal Botanical Park at Lamperi below Dochula was already inaugurated when he made this statement. Now, is the journalist going to be accused of correctly quoting the Prime Minister?

Suppose an inexperienced journalist from Bhutan had a one-on-one interview with some senior government officials. What happens if they later realise they have given the wrong information? They claim they were misquoted. The ordeal for the journalist has just begun. On other days when we visit someone for some news, we will be either denied access to information or will be lectured on how they were misquoted by some other newspapers.

Honesty is still the best policy. We have mature professionals in the media and news sources must trust the reporters. Maybe it is time that our bureaucrats and news generators keep themselves updated on everything happening around them.

Maybe they should do more homework before they meet the journalists. Hopefully, the cry of `I was misquoted’ will soon be a thing of past.

By Rabi C. Dahal

Ratings: 1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars
Loading ... Loading ...
Email this page Email this page     Print this page Print this page    

Posted by Bhutan Observer · Filed Under Voices 

Comments

One Response to ““Quotes are Seldom Misquoted,” says a journalist”

  1. dorji on December 20th, 2008 3:50 am

    just get a dictaphone for guru’s sakes.

Leave your comment





Note: Comments are moderated by Bhutan Observer, and may not appear until they have been reviewed and deemed appropriate for posting.

Bhutan Observer is Digg proof thanks to caching by WP Super Cache