An Apology

PenQatar
By PenQatar

It was one of those silly lapses newspaper people often fall into. The ones that give you a queezy feeling the moment you see it in print. Yesterday’s headline on page 6 — A photographer of the ‘lesser people’ — was one of them.

Even though the intention of the editor who wrote the headline was contrary (the phrase in the quotes was meant to make people introspect their attitudes to people differently endowed because of genetic differences), It was not in good taste and could offend.

The Peninsula, as a matter of policy, is not only committed to promote the rights of and awareness about people with special needs, it believes in practically contributing to the cause – like our specially- tailored programme for the students of Shaffalah Centre under our journalism training initiative for school students.

We sincerely apologise to sufferers of genetic disorders in Qatar and everywhere in the world , advocates like photographer Rick Guidotti whose entire work is devoted to breaking down stereotypes and public ignorance and everyone who may have felt offended by the headline.

— EDITOR

Published on: March 12, 2010

By flor1212• 15 Mar 2010 08:56
Rating: 3/5
flor1212

it's a pure lapse in english translation (different from what they think). IMHO!

>

>

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wala lang

By chocoholic• 15 Mar 2010 08:56
chocoholic

Ooh hand me my red pen...

Queezy?

Should be queasy.

--All you really need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt-- Lucy Van Pelt

By mjamille28• 15 Mar 2010 08:31
mjamille28

I totally agree saggi...

By svelte_saggi• 15 Mar 2010 08:19
svelte_saggi

yeah,none of us are perfect in english for that matter....but a newspaper certainly cannot afford to make such mistakes,IMHO.i remember my dad used to encourage me to read the newspaper to improve my command of english.i'm afraid i won't be telling that to my own kids if this is going to be the state of affairs :-S

===================================

How glorious it is - and also how painful - to be an exception. - Alfred de Musset

By s_isale• 15 Mar 2010 08:15
Rating: 2/5
s_isale

better send your niece as proof reader there.

By anonymous• 15 Mar 2010 07:56
anonymous

The above is what happens when people who don't really have a grasp on the English language edit/print English language dailies...as for the writing skills in the English dailies in this town,my 12 year old niece could do a better job than this lot...

By mjamille28• 15 Mar 2010 07:55
mjamille28

Mandi, spell-check: well, "specially", i think should be "especially",.. :P

it may be just one of those "silly lapses", and yeah nobody's perfect, but i thought that's what proofreaders are for, to ensure that "silly lapses" like this are prevented before it gets published.. sure one can apologize after every mistake, but the damage has been done.. just hope that this doesn't happen again in the future..

By svelte_saggi• 15 Mar 2010 07:46
svelte_saggi

i doubt if they even know of something by that name,mandi :-D LOL sigh!i miss the newspapers from back home.... :-(

===================================

How glorious it is - and also how painful - to be an exception. - Alfred de Musset

By Mandilulur• 14 Mar 2010 15:28
Mandilulur

Oh, dear, how can you have a spelling error in a carefully constructed apology? Spell-check, anyone?

Mandi

By svelte_saggi• 14 Mar 2010 15:00
svelte_saggi

oh and it's 'queasy' and not 'queezy',mr.editor.and i don't even want to go into the grammatical mistakes of the original post.

spelling and grammatical mistakes sound funny coming from the editor of an english daily that celebrated 14 years of "success"....duh!

a 'lapse' yet again,i s'pose :-P

===================================

How glorious it is - and also how painful - to be an exception. - Alfred de Musset

By Oryx• 14 Mar 2010 14:34
Oryx

Lapse in judgement - !!!! that is wearing a white t shirt when you cook beetroot

This is NO lapse in judgement - this as someone pointed out is a MINDSET and indicative of the low professional skills of your journos...

you 'mis-use' words (don't know the meaning and don't look them up) all the time.

For example when someone driving dangerously kills someone - it is reported as a 'mishap'

Mishap is when I spill the beetroot on my t shirt

By svelte_saggi• 14 Mar 2010 14:31
Rating: 2/5
svelte_saggi

'lapses' like this cannot be overlooked when it comes out in print and reaches thousands of readers....tolerance levels vary,u see.like it was mentioned in the eralier thread,had this been any other country,the newspaper could easily have been sued and shut down by now....had it been india,it'd have been far worse :-S

===================================

How glorious it is - and also how painful - to be an exception. - Alfred de Musset

By Olive• 14 Mar 2010 14:20
Olive

Speaking as a former journalist I think the fact that a lapse like this one could occur is a sign of how unprofessional The Peninsula is. Next time make sure your reporters think before they write.

literal people are scary, man, literal people scare me

out there trying to rid the world of its poetry while getting it wrong fundamentally down at the church of "look,it sez right here, see!" Ani Difranco

By nmk• 14 Mar 2010 14:15
nmk

Honestly, does anyone in Qatar read the Peninsula? Even Qatar-Tribune which started much later might have a better readership.

By nomerci• 13 Mar 2010 15:17
nomerci

"A silly lapse". Yes, of course. ;)

I do not believe that anybody at the Peninsula newspaper had anything bad in mind when this was written. But it shows their general mindset, on not only this particular subject , very clearly.

What comes around, goes around....

By anonymous• 13 Mar 2010 12:57
anonymous

Sack the editor for letting get through!

By anonymous• 13 Mar 2010 12:39
anonymous

Source:

- A study Conducted by FriedUnicorn - Vol I (September,1999)

"Resident Attention Seeker"

By stealth• 13 Mar 2010 12:32
stealth

Is peninsula qorth reading

By Xray• 13 Mar 2010 11:17
Xray

A strict diciplinary action may restrcit these problems in future...

By drmana• 13 Mar 2010 11:16
drmana

Hope this apology is sincere and similar mistakes won't happen again.

"It is better to be hated for what you are than being loved for what you are not."

By anonymous• 13 Mar 2010 11:09
anonymous

adding insult to injury...

By fanonite• 13 Mar 2010 11:01
fanonite

it's one of those situtions when you forgive but not forget..

my advice , BE CAREFUL IN FUTURE !!

"The more I see of the world the more am I dissatisfied with it." Jane Austen.

By lukreng• 13 Mar 2010 10:40
lukreng

reminds me of a video sent to QL not so long ago... a man fervently praying with his one leg, i cried when i saw that video... gudam to all QLers!!!

By anonymous• 13 Mar 2010 09:56
anonymous

Source:

- A study Conducted by FriedUnicorn - Vol I (September,1999)

"Resident Attention Seeker"

By Visper• 13 Mar 2010 09:56
Visper

it's a heartbreaker words, "lesser people". but cut more deeper if one of your love ones is one of them.. :(

there's no such thing as "lesser people"..

~Welcome Sunshine~

"Most cloud carry an umbrella for irony, and a bucket of chicken with no definable purpose."

By makdrive• 13 Mar 2010 09:42
Rating: 3/5
makdrive

well yeah, i really didn't found it that offensive, as rest of the article was written in good spirit. But certainly, there are people, Good people, bad people, but not 'lesser people'.

Hope peninsula daily will be more considerate next time.

By anonymous• 13 Mar 2010 09:40
anonymous

My niece is one of those "lesser people" and no apology will ever make me read Peninsula again.

/\____/\___/\_______/\______________/\__ ____________________________________ You Lost Me!!

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