THE investigation commission of Nepal castigated Kathmandu Post Monday; hours after the newspaper ran an exclusive report that blamed the pilot of the US-Bangla plane for the crash. Citing investigation reports, the newspaper claimed that pilot Abid Sultan was “mentally stressed”, “sleep deprived” and “reckless”.
It asked all not to make unnecessary speculations regarding the sensitive matter. The probe is ongoing and the report is not complete, said the commission formed by the Nepalese government after the US-Bangla plane crashed in Tribhuvan International Airport on March 12.
Aviation experts in Bangladesh have raised questions about the motive behind the report, which blamed the pilot without touching on issues like the conversation between the ATC and the pilot. The Kathmandu Post published the news at a time when the investigation is halfway through and the commission is yet to formally make public any information. US-Bangla Airlines also termed the Kathmandu Post report baseless and irreverent. There might be two reasons behind publishing of such a report — one is to defame the airlines concerned and its crew and the other is to hide the truth, the carrier said in a statement signed by general manager of the airlines.
One of the most basic tasks of journalists is to report the truth, after first verifying that the incident or action occurred in the first place. To do this reporters need to investigate in an impartial manner by finding out unprejudiced witnesses who can accurately relay the story and then cross-check the facts by talking to multiple such sources, not unlike what a lawyer has to do to get his client acquitted.
If the Kathmandu Post has published so-called ‘fake news’ then it must be censured, and rightly so. But we must not be quick to judge the paper without verifying the facts first. Why is it that even though it has been over four months CAAB has only just started analysing the cockpit voice recorders? This extremely important task should have been done months ago.
We think, it should not take so much time to figure out the facts and decide on the merits of the case. The delay would create more doubt and inspire somebody to run unconfirmed news.
