The New York Times (NYT) has used an image of a Bangladeshi anti-communal protest event with an inappropriate caption.
On January 8, a number of political and socio-cultural organizations formed a human chain in front of the National Museum in the capital city of Dhaka protesting attacks on Hindu communities across the country centring January 5 polls. The image of the event was published in Bangladeshi newspapers on January 9.
The New York Times also published a photo of the anti-communal protest rally on 11th January. The photo published by the NYT was distributed by the USA based news agency the Associated Press. While publishing the photo in the story titled “Matriarchs’ Duel for Power Threatens to Tilt Bangladesh Off Balance”, the NYT put a wrong caption on it.
The caption in the NYT story read: “Bangladeshis protested Wednesday in Dhaka during a strike called by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party.”
What the captions suggests is that an ambiguity has remained regarding whether it had any connection to the blockade or any relation to the context of the story. It is difficult to relate the content of the story as it is served to the real context of the protest, particularly to those who have somewhat ideas about the whole issues. So the photo caption seems to be irrelevant. The NYT didn’t go for clarifying the issue of the protest, just ‘protest’ they say; however as it says during the strike by the then opposition may mean that the protest was for them, which may amount to the misrepresentation of the facts and figures involved.
It is here mentionable that the main opposition BNP Sunday called a 48-hour nationwide hartal beginning from Monday morning. Later on Tuesday, the programme was extended till 6pm Wednesday (January 8). The anti-communal rally also took place on January 8.