The Press Trust of India once again apologised to Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani after she criticised the agency for using an image showing people wearing masks of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday.
“[The] picture issued was of Janata Dal (United) and BJP workers wearing masks to mark Friendship Day,” the news agency told Irani on Twitter. “PTI apologises for hurting sentiments and therefore has withdrawn the picture.”
Irani had lashed out at PTI, asking, “Is this how elected heads will be projected? Is this your official stand?”
Congressman Gaurav Pandhi tweeted the deleted picture, attacking Irani for “arm-twisting” news agencies in her role as the Information and Broadcasting Minister.
PTI had on July 28 issued a clarification and fired a photographer for uploading an image of the flooding at the Chennai airport in December 2015 as one of a supposedly waterlogged Ahmedabad airport on Thursday. “PTI deeply regrets the error and has terminated the services of the concerned photographer,” the new agency said in response to a rebuke by Irani.
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