This is with reference to the publication of the edited version of the interview of Hon’ble External Affairs Minister of India in your paper dated Monday, 28 January, 2013, under the title “LoC incident got — out of hand”. The High Commission finds that the text of the published interview in your newspaper contains selective excerpts from the full interview of the Hon’ble Minister available at the weblink of Outlook India, at www.outlookindia.com. A shortened edited version of the interview appears in the outlook magazine of February 4, 2013.
Your newspaper has edited the full interview from the heading down to the final complete text. Such selective rendering introduces gross distortion by taking away the context of the minister’s answers contained in the original interview. For example, the answer to the last question omits from the original altogether the significant portion of groups that exploit religion for unwholesome purpose. It is also against the journalistic practice to tamper with the text of an interview published elsewhere while making no effort to convey to your readers that the text carried in your newspaper is selectively excerpted.
