Officials said the newsreader, during one of the evening slots, mistook the first part of the Chinese president’s name Xi for the Roman numeral eleven and pronouced it thus.
The mistake was immediately detected, the officials said. They added that the newsreader was on Doordarshan’s causal panel. Casual newsreaders are those whose services are sought when the regular newsreaders are not available.
“We have decided to discontinue the services of one of the anchors on the casual panel due to the serious mistake in the pronunciation of the name of a visiting dignitary,” Director General (News) Doordarshan Archana Datta said.
Officials said the performance of those in the casual panel is constantly reviewed and it was felt that the error was embarrassing for the public sector broadcaster.