Indian news channel's typo leads to politician Shashi Tharoor's 'sad demise'

World Tuesday 05/December/2017 13:36 PM
By: Times News Service
Indian news channel's typo leads to politician Shashi Tharoor's 'sad demise'

New Delhi: After legendary Indian film actor Shashi Kapoor passed away on Monday, news channels across India scrambled to break the news first, especially on social media platform Twitter.
But one leading news channel jumped the gun with one of their tweets, in which they wanted to quote film director Madhur Bhandarkar, talking about Kapoor.
Instead, they tweeted this incomplete post: "Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar remembering Shashi Tharoor on his sad demise said he is one producer who got parallel cinema on the front", naming Indian politician Shashi Tharoor instead of Kapoor.
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The channel later deleted the tweet, but not before screenshots of it were taken by Twitter users, one of whom brought it Tharoor's attention.
Tharoor, a member of parliament from Kerala, managed to see the humour in the situation and tweeted, "We're getting condolence calls in the office! Reports of my demise are, if not exaggerated, at least premature."
The broadcaster later apologised for their mistake, which they said was a "typographical error", to which Tharoor again replied, "Thanks. No problem. Mistakes happen. Glad to be able to crack a smile at a tragic moment."