Amidst the ongoing controversy over BBC’s documentary on Modi, a social media post accompanying a screenshot of a BBC report in which the Indian map is displayed without Kashmir is being shared widely claiming it as a recent report. Through this article, let’s fact-check the veracity of the BBC report shared in the post.
Claim: BBC removes Kashmir from the Indian map.
Fact: BBC did not publish any distorted map of India, following the release of the controversial documentary on Modi. The viral image is old and dates back to 2015, when BBC in its report covering Modi’s foreign visit displayed a distorted India map, without Jammu Kashmir. Even after that incident, BBC, on multiple occasions misrepresented the Indian map. In fact, in 2021, BBC apologized after a report related to US elections carried a distorted map of India. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
Earlier this month, BBC released a documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots. Following the release, protests erupted in India and other parts of the world, alleging that the documentary portrayed Modi in a bad light. It is in this context, the viral image of the BBC report misrepresenting the Indian map is being shared on social media platforms. However, amidst the ongoing controversy, BBC did not carry this distorted the Indian map in any of its reports. The viral image is from an old BBC report in which it displayed an incomplete & distorted Indian map. This image of BBC misrepresenting India has resurfaced after Anil K Antony, son of former minister and Congress leader AK Antony, shared these images, criticizing BBC for its controversial documentary
BBC’s misrepresentation of the Indian map:
In the past, not just once but multiple times, BBC has misrepresented the Indian map. Earlier in 2015, in its report covering Modi’s foreign visits, BBC displayed an incomplete map of India that did not include Jammu & Kashmir. The image shared in the viral post is most likely from this report.
Later in 2021, in one of its reports related to US elections, BBC once again displayed a distorted map of India that is without Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir. However, following outrage over the issue, BBC responded with an apology and updated the online broadcast with a map of India reflecting the correct boundaries of Jammu and Kashmir.
News articles reported a BBC spokesperson saying “From London, we mistakenly published a map of India online which contained inaccuracies and is not the standard map used by BBC News. It has now been corrected. We apologize for any offence caused”.
Even after multiple misrepresentations and apologies, once again in June 2021, in a report covering the delta variant, BBC displayed a distorted image of the Indian map and later updated the report by replacing the Indian map with the Indian tricolour.
As mentioned earlier, though BBC has published a distorted map of India on multiple occasions earlier, BBC did not publish any distorted map of India after the controversy over its documentary on Narendra Modi. These old images are being shared linking them to the current context.
To sum it up, old images of BBC displaying a distorted map of India are being shared in light of the release of the controversial documentary on Narendra Modi.
