Thread by @MisraNityanand

[Exposé Thread: keep popcorn ready]

How @ThePrintIndia distorts views and publishes lies

Shared by @RamaNewDelhi, The Prints’s ‘news report’ [sic] by @S_kritika on my talk is a wondrous marvel of journalistic ineptitude and a fantastic display of journalistic disintegrity.

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This short report has so many distortions, misrepresentations, and lies that even ‘Pyaaz wali chudail’ news reports will appear truthful in comparison.

The journalist denied misrepresentation and said I was free to write what I felt, so here I go.

theprint.in/india/modi-sha…

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Headline says I want Urdu out of Hindi.

This is wrong.

My talk was on avoiding Arabic-Persian words in Hindi.

It is basic general knowledge that Arabic ≠ Urdu and Persian ≠ Urdu.

Even title of my presentation emailed to the journalist was ‘अरबी-फ़ारसी-मुक्त हिन्दी’.

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Report says I said “Modi sarkar” should be called “Modi shasan”

This is a lie: sensationalizing by bringing in Modi as clickbait

I never mentioned “Modi sarkar” in my talk

I contrasted use of Persian-origin ‘sarkar’ and Sanskrit-origin ‘shashan’/‘prabhutvam’ by diff govts

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Report says I want people to “stop using Urdu words while speaking in Hindi and use Sanskrit instead”

This is a gross misrepresentation (almost a lie).

In my talk, I recommended avoiding/minimizing use of Arabic and Persian words and use Sanskrit or Prakrit words in Hindi.

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Report says I have authored “multiple books in Hindi & Sanskrit on Indian culture & Hindi language”

Lies again (they do not do any fact checking before publishing?)

1) I have edited (not authored) 1 book in Sanskrit
2) I have not authored/edited any book on Hindi language

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Report: “Addressing a packed hall with nearly 150 attendees, ”

Lie: There were just 40 attendees for two talks. @SrijanFn has a list (an Excel sheet).

Fact: The journalist was not even present at the talk, but the report makes it sound like a first-hand account.

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Report: “Misra talked about replacing Urdu & Arabic words that have crept into Hindi ...”

Wrong again. I recommended replacing “Arabic & Persian” words. Appalled at this repeated schoolboy error in a ‘factual report’ which cannot distinguish Urdu from Persian!!

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Report: says I suggested using “sahastra” instead of “hazaar”.

Wrong again. I suggested “sahasra”.

Slide 13 of my presentation (available online & emailed to the journalist) clearly says that “sahastra” is wrong. The journalist did not even carefully read the presentation.

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Report: My talk had advice for BJP saying “namumkin ab mumkin hai” should ideally be “asambhav ab sambhav hai”

Lie. I gave no advice to BJP. My talk had a slide contrasting the Hindi used by BJP and PTI. Journalist seems to have imagined what I spoke based on my slides.

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Report: I have been working for the promotion of Sanskrit and Hindi since 2016 ...

Wrong again. I’ve been working to promote Sanskrit & Hindi since 2006 when I organized a Samskrita Bharati Sambhashan Shivir in IIMB. The date 2016 was just made up by the journalist.

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Report: I said “Hindi should have more words from Sanskrit and Prakrit and not Urdu and Arabic,”

Wrong again. I said Arabic and Persian, not Urdu and Arabic. How many times can a journalist confuse Persian for Urdu in a small news report?

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Report: I said “Usage of Sanskrit & Prakrit in Hindi will also help Hindi to reach out to South Indians.”

Half true, half false.

I said use of Sanskrit words (not Sanskrit & Prakrit) will make Hindi easier for people in western, eastern, & southern India (not just SIs).

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The spin: Report brings in Hindutva just to sensationalize, refers to Rajiv Malhotra disparagingly as “controversial Hindutva ideologue” [sic], and says I appear alongside “other Hindutva ideologues” (who?) without mentioning who they mean. Completely unrelated to my talk.

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Report confuses “use of Sanskrit words” with “use of Sanskrit”. The idiotic response of Apoorvanand about “oppressive Sanskrit” [sic] is unrelated to use of Sanskrit-origin words in Hindi which are already present in many Indian languages (I am shocked he doesn’t know it).

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Finally, no journalistic ethos. I requested the journalist on phone, email, WhatsApp to run the views attributed to me by me before publishing so that I am not misrepresented. Journalist agreed (“haan, haan”), but then published the report without doing it.

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I was suspicious of @ThePrintIndia. Yet, I talked to them to see for myself if they value accuracy and factual reporting.

I was prepared to expose them if they did not. Their reporting was full of misrepresentations and paid no heed to facts, hence this thread.

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My presentation slides are public, video of the talk will be on YouTube shortly. Anybody interested can cross-check what I said with what @ThePrintIndia reported: doodh ka doodh, paani ka paani.

This thread should be kept in mind when talking about @ThePrintIndia journalism

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