After defending its 'phone trap' story for four days, the newly launched ‘Mangalam’ TV channel admitted late on Thursday evening that it had erred in airing the sexually explicit telephone conversation involving former Transport Minister A.K. Saseendran on March 26.
Appearing on its prime time news broadcast, Mangalam’s managing director R. Ajith Kumar claimed that it was a “sting operation” and that the woman involved in the conversation was a woman journalist not a citizen who had turned to the Minister for help. The channel, he said, was admitting it’s mistake in response to the views expressed by highly respected cultural leaders who had come out against the report in a statement here on Wednesday.
The channel, he said, had not taken adequate preparations before airing the report. The woman journalist, who had participated in the operation, had done so of her own volition and there was no compulsion on her to do so. Such mistakes would not recur, he said.
