The revered New York Times just shot itself in the foot by calling India's melody queen Bharat Ratna Lata Mangeshkar a "...so-called playback singer..."
The double byline story has an Indian researcher presumably based in India and aware of Indians. No, it's not a bit like saying this or that. It's just plain arrogance and stupidity or both.
The report is about the Tanmay Bhat controversy and it refers to Sachin Tendulkar as a hugely popular cricketer.
Newsrooms do slip up, but this one is a dud. If the reporter didn't run a fact-check, the desk could also have asked what the fuss was all about if Ms. Mangeshkar was just a so-called singer. The newspaper owes the lady an apology.
Here’s how Twitter reacted to the faux pas
The bad thing about being busy in work is that you miss out on world-class comedy like @nytimes calling Lata Mangeshkar "so called singer" !
— Akhilesh Mishra (@amishra77) May 31, 2016
Lata ji is 'So-called-singer'. With little more creativity, @nytimes could have termed her 'Self-Styled-Singer' https://t.co/nvbpdV4dc3
— Shaitaan Khopdi™ (@shaitaankhopdi) May 31, 2016
So-called singer? Err....Lata Mangeshkar??????? Who does the fact checking for these articles? https://t.co/VhAAa2rjgv
— Roopa Banerjee (@roopabanerjee) May 31, 2016
What's more outrageous is Indian journalists in the New York Times labelling Lata Mangeshkar as "SO CALLED SINGER" https://t.co/aUgrtRqpfT
— Venkat Parthasarathy (@Venkrek) June 1, 2016
How u can call an Asian Legendary singer Lata Ji a 'so called singer' is disgusting!
— Y⭕️ Se سلطان (@SalluLicious) June 1, 2016
PS:Hire journalists with class! https://t.co/T4J6iruEAO
A so called newspaper calls Lata Mangeshkar a 'so called singer' and reveals its ignorance.. Seriously ignorant
— Sunanda Vashisht (@sunandavashisht) May 31, 2016