I feel very uneasy every time I see our newspapers pictures of players being introduced to the chief guest of the opening and the closing functions of various tournaments in the state, because the captions of the picture would invariably say ‘Shri so & so, the chief guest, being introduced to the players at so & so functions etc’. For example, the 29th April issue of the Morung Express showed the picture of Dr.T.M.Lotha, Minister for H & FW shaking hands with the players of Sunrise Club Silver Jubilee Invitation Badminton Tournament at Kohima Indoor Stadium, while the Nagaland Post issue of the same date showed a picture of Shri K.T.Sukhalu, Secretary YRS shaking hands with the players of the 12th Youth Soccer Championship at Kohima.
In both the cases, the captions say that the chief guests were being introduced to the players. This has become the standard method of reporting even in the, I & PR ‘Warrior Magazine’. To my understanding, when the chief guest goes down to meet the players and shake hands with them he is not introduced to the players, but the players are introduced to the chief guest by the organizers or the respective team captains. This is also the accepted norm or pattern whenever any group or delegation comes face to face with a VIP, instead of the VIP being introduced while shaking hands, the members of the delegates introduce themselves, or re introduced by the team leader to the VIP.
However, in public functions, the chief guest is given a general introduction from the podium by the announcer or the chairman to the whole audience, which is quite different from what we are talking about now.
Since, our newspapers are widely read by all sorts of people, both in and outside the state, I would like our journalists to take note of this habitual mistake in captioning or reporting, and try to correct in future.
Lalthara, IAS
Officers Hill, Kohima, Nagaland
