Divya Bhaskar is the largest circulated regional daily in Gujarat.

I am from Gujarat and I know for sure that
this claim is bogus. I do not have any pointers to prove it, but you should be able to find it somewhere.

Betting is no fun unless you wager it ALL.

Gee SAJA, where are my cookie-cutter-ready-made stories?

/end sarcasm

Â… I really did not mean to take credit away from Abhi or Sepia Mutiny. I thought your e-mail which was circulated widely to the press in New York could be used directly as source material.

I am very upset (with myself) about making a mistake with your first name. I put down Manoj instead of Manish — very sorry. I presumed you were an aggreived Orange city resident who was reacting to something that was going down in your neighbourhood — therefore the e-mail from you. In hindsight, I feel I ought to have emailed you back or not touched the story…

I just thought SAJA was sending out stuff for an important India-centric story which as journalists we ought to write about. Pehaps, I ought to have e-mailed you back to clarify instead of using the e-mail as source material.

–

My reply:

I’m concerned that the quote was altered– the text of the quote you used wasn’t in the email I sent to SAJA. I’ve had reporters paraphrase, but not that egregiously. This paraphrase altered the meaning of my quote:

My quote: “An Orlando city councilman made some incredibly insulting remarks about his Indian-American election opponent.” [Later] “Sorry, folks, I meant Orange City, Florida.”

Your paraphrase: “I think it is important that Sherrill understands that he has offended Indians.”

This is a) not accurate (you could have just cut and pasted from the email) and b) implies that I speak for all Indians, which I do not. That’s beyond the incorrect attribution (name, city). The weight of the errors is so great, it appears to me like the changes were made on purpose to concoct a quote as opposed to regular, sloppy attribution…

Using an email as source material is legit if you’re on deadline, though it’s always better to check with the source first. Making up the words is not!

Manish Voj Manish Vij Manoj Vij Manoj Vish

How can we keep them all straight?

Yogesh Dorapandey