In an ironic gaffe spreading on social media, PTV broadcasted a speech by Prime Minister Imran Khan which he was giving in Beijing with the dateline “Begging”.
The PM was addressing an event at the Central Party School in Beijing which the PTV was broadcasting live. In the top left corner of the screen, where it says the location of the event, the screen read “Begging”. While the ticker describing the event got the spellings of Beijing right in Urdu, the word misspelt in English has resulted in an embarrassing moment for PTV.
The gaffe has become particularly ironic since PM Khan is on a mission to secure a package from China to try and stall the impending economic crisis the country is facing.
The prime minister has reduced received backlash from his opponents over his ‘U-turns’ since he was a vocal opponent of ‘begging’ other countries before assuming office.
Now, with the PM going country-to-country negotiating bailout packages and even having to contend with the IMF, the mistake has become all the more ironic. It is yet to be determined whether this is a simple case of a silly mistake or some disgruntled PTV employee pulling a prank.
Later, PTV also issued a statement, referring to the error but did not clarify what kind of mistake it was. The state channel has promised to initiate an inquiry into the incident.
Today, during a live address of the Prime Minister during his ongoing visit to China, a typographical error took place, which remained on screen for 20 seconds & later removed. This incident is regrettable. Strict action has been initiated under rules against concerned officials pic.twitter.com/df2Z8oib5u
— PTV News (@PTVNewsOfficial) November 4, 2018
