Over the past few days, sophisticated Indians have been a-twitter about a Doordarshan newscaster for coming to the mistaken conclusion that the Chinese President's last name was actually a Roman numeral. Reporting on the leader's state visit to India, the announcer referred to President Xi Jinping as Eleven Jinping.
This occasioned great mirth from social media users. Another school of opinion employed the opportunity to claim that this was yet another example of how the public sector is inherently incompetent and could never be expected to get anything right.
As it turns out, the Doordarshan employee (whose name has not been revealed) wasn't the only one to be confused. This reporter for the ever-popular India TV made the same mistake two days earlier. It isn't clear whether the India TV reporter received a reprimand, but the errant Doordarshan newscaster was immediately sacked. Go figure.
We welcome your comments at
letters@scroll.in.
This occasioned great mirth from social media users. Another school of opinion employed the opportunity to claim that this was yet another example of how the public sector is inherently incompetent and could never be expected to get anything right.
As it turns out, the Doordarshan employee (whose name has not been revealed) wasn't the only one to be confused. This reporter for the ever-popular India TV made the same mistake two days earlier. It isn't clear whether the India TV reporter received a reprimand, but the errant Doordarshan newscaster was immediately sacked. Go figure.