Chennai deluge pics passed as Gujarat flood photos, PTI fires photojournalist after Smriti Irani points out mistake

Press Trust of India on Saturday fired a photographer for erroneous reporting after Information and Broadcast Minister Smriti Irani pointed out that AIR India tweeted Chennai flood pictures from 2015 as photos of recent Ahmedabad floods. 

"Attention: photographs of Chennai floods have been used and passed off as Ahmedabad @PTI_News Kindly alert all news establishments," Irani tweeted on Friday. She also demanded an explanation from PTI for the mistake. 

Attention: photographs of Chennai floods have been used and passed off as Ahmedabad @PTI_News Kindly alert all news establishments.

— Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) July 28, 2017

 

It would be prudent @PTI_News to get an explanation as to how this happened.

— Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) July 28, 2017

The I&B Minister's intervention alerted the agency, which expressed regret over the mistake. "We regret that @airnewsalerts Ahmedabad picked up this photo based on erroneous reporting. We will take action," Shashi Shekhar, CEO of Prasar Bharti said in a quick reply. 

We regret that @airnewsalerts Ahmedabad picked up this photo based on erroneous reporting. We will take action. https://t.co/T5AuRpBYi5

— Shashi Shekhar (@shashidigital) July 28, 2017

Acting on the complaint, the news agency terminated the services of the photo scribe who had submitted the wrong pictures to the agency. 

PTI deeply regrets the error and has terminated the services of the concerned photographer; @smritiirani and @shashidigital

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) July 28, 2017

Termination of photographer's services has created a mild uproar on the microblogging site as the Twitter users are raising concern over the firing of the photojournalist. 

Photographer?? Since when any Ahamadabad photographer started sending Chennai photos from archives ?? #KuchBhi

— Yashwant Deshmukh (@YRDeshmukh) July 28, 2017

 

It's joke of the day,Chief Editor is fully responsible for the news publication and yet making one photographer scapegoat by sacking him

— Manjunath B N (@manjunatraj) July 28, 2017