The Black market that wasn't

The black market that wasn't

Monday, September 14, 2009 at 04:29PM
Posted from Cleartrip.com

 

There is an unwritten code of ethics that governs newspapers and news organisations the world over. As consumers of the news, we expect that these organisations be dedicated to reporting the news factually, accurately and without bias. The larger the audience a newspaper has, the greater the expectation that it strictly adhere to journalistic integrity. The number one rule of journalistic integrity is that one should report the news, not manufacture it or conjure it up out of thin air.

The Times of India, India's largest selling English daily, ran a story yesterday entitled Jet strike saw online agents hijack fares. Now, it is one thing for a newspaper to print sensationalist headlines, but to completely manufacture a story and falsify news crosses the line. The story alleges that online travel agents took advantage of the Jet Airways' pilots' strike to gouge customers and raise prices:

Online travel portals have reportedly been found to have raised fares to astronomical levels by means of "black marketing and hoarding," according to a top aviation ministry official. "We have found that some portals and airlines devised ways of going to fare levels of a nearly full flight to sell tickets at a premium," the official said.

This journalist is clearly from another planet; a planet where editors allow stories to be published even when they don't contain a single fact. The journalist has several quotes in the story from 'aviation ministry officials", but each quote is anonymous. The journalist also alleges that online travel companies pre-purchase tickets from airlines, something none of the online travel companies actually do.

The journalist does not interview or name even a single customer that was offered or purchased these 'astronomical' fares. Neither does the journalist present any research or evidence that shows price comparisons on online sites, nor is any particular online site named in the article.

The journalist goes on to state that tickets have "been sold for up to Rs 20,000." And that statement is what leads us to believe that this journalist actually writes for The Times of Marsand his story was mistakenly filed with The Times of India.

This graph shows the average price for one-way tickets sold by Cleartrip over the last two weeks:

The average price for the time period is Rs. 2,829; with a high of Rs. 2,952 and a low of Rs. 2,747. The actual numbers are a far cry from the journalist's imaginary Rs. 20,000 levels.

If this story was actually written to report the news on this planet, we have a tip for The Times of India's reporters--a news article is referred to as a 'story,' but that doesn't mean you get to make it up. Sloppy, lazy and sensationalist reporting is something we expect from tabloids, not from newspapers.

 

 

 

Best Regards,
Raghunandan Jagdish, CEO

Nandan GSE Pvt Ltd

Works: D - 205 MIDC Turbhe, Navi Mumbai – 400705, India

Office: C - 15, Nanddham Industrial Estate, Marol-Maroshi Road, Mumbai - 400059, India

Tel: +91-22-2763 5508/09 | Fax: +91-22-2763 5510 |

e-mail: raghu@nandan.co.in

www.nandan.co.in

 

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