Major Priyadarshi Chowdhury, SC (Retd), wrote to the Editors Guild of India and to Thomson Reuters International on Wednesday to share “concern and anger over the recent conduct of Asian News International (ANI) with respect to the Petition which we veterans had written to The President of India.”
Following over 150 veterans’ petition to the President against the politicisation of the armed forces, ANI had reported that some veterans had not signed the said petition.
Thomson Reuters has a 49 per cent stake in ANI. The letter states that ANI’s conduct “is perfidious with a view to influence the ongoing elections in a biased manner”.
“In this context, serious questions arise about ANI’s motives and practices in reporting the alleged denials by some senior officers that they had ever signed the letter,” Maj Priyadarshi’s letter says, citing media reports including one published by NewsCentral24x7.
“We believe that ANI has acted at the behest of India’s ruling party to manipulate quotes and defame our honourable intentions,” the letter further states, urging that the public stance of ANI’s national security editor, as reported by The Wire, must be carefully perused.
Maj Priyadarshi has asked the Guild and Reuters several questions:
- How do they evaluates the editorial practices of ANI to the end of assuring journalistic balance and editorial quality?
- Do they Guild believe that “ANI’s motivated misreporting of our genuine and Constitutional appeal meets the best practices for editorial propriety.”
- “Whether Thomson Reuters evaluated or examined the practices, political affiliations, and reputation of ANI prior to expanding its strategic partnership in June 2018?…. if so, what was Thomson Reuters’ finding about ANI? If not, on what basis does Reuters evaluate the quality and validity of editorial material received from its partners? “
“It is upto Thomson Reuters to evaluate whether such conduct by an investee company meets your mission statement of “….we do business according to the highest standards of ethical and responsible conduct,” the letter states.