Times News Network - Editorial Controversies

Editorial Controversies

• On 26 June 1975, a day after emergency was imposed in India, the Bombay edition of The Times of India in its obituary column carried an entry that read "D.E.M O'Cracy beloved husband of T.Ruth, father of L.I.Bertie, brother of Faith, Hope and Justica expired on 26 June".

• In 1998, the summary dismissal of then editor H.K. Dua was attributed to his pursuit of an independent editorial policy that did not suit the interests of the promoters of the group. A complaint was filed by People's Union for Civil Liberties in this matter with Press Council of India. The PCI censured The Times of India.

• On 6 July 2012, The Times of India published an article with the title "Mauritius offers India 2 islands in effort to preserve tax treaty". According to this article, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mauritius Arvin Boolell, who was on an official visit to India during this period, stated that Mauritius was willing to cede its Outer island, that is the Agaléga Islands, to the Government of India in exchange for the maintenance of the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement between India and Mauritius. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mauritius later denied the claims of handing over the Agaléga Islands to India. He also denied that he had named the Agaléga Islands in his conversation with the journalist of The Times of India and pointed out that the TOI had "a hidden agenda" as it was not the first time that TOI had done this. The Minister claims that he talked to the reporter who wrote the article and that he has "apologized", following the publication of this article. The High Commission of Mauritius in India issued a statement and explained that "this information is erroneous, false and malicious": "Never was the issue of Agaléga raised either on a stand-alone basis or as part of the double-tax avoidance agreement between India and Mauritius". He explained that the Mauritian Minister has granted several interviews to the Indian press and he at no time discussed the issue of Agaléga. The TOI published another article on 6 July 2012 with the title "Minister clarifies Mauritius island offer" and mentioned that it had knowledge about an earlier proposal about the Agaléga Islands and had therefore put a question on the two islands to which the minister had responded. However the TOI did not mention that the offer of Agaléga islands was denied by the Government of Mauritius.