John Reed, an American ‘journalist’ for the Financial Times, on Monday, April 17, took to Twitter to claim that he was kicked out of an Indo-Russia event over “security concerns.”
“I just got kicked out of this event (which I was invited to and registered for) for security reasons,” Reed lamented on Twitter, along with sharing details of the event, which included complimentary snacks.
I just got kicked out of this event (which I was invited to and registered for) “for security reasons”. pic.twitter.com/QvbeqFHtCj
— John Reed (@JohnReedwrites) April 17, 2023
The event in question was organised by FICCI and titled ‘India Russia Business Conclave’ had Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov as chief guests.
The event, which was organised at Delhi’s The Leela Hotel, entailed remarks from industry representatives from the Russian and the Indian side, followed by a special address by Mr Manturov and a keynote address by Dr S Jaishankar.
However, the lack of details about what transpired at the venue leading to his supposed ouster left many to wonder if the action was in response to FT’s snub to the Adani Group for not removing its article that the business conglomerate said was misleading and malicious.
An AAP supporter claimed that the Indian government expelled a “renowned” journalist from the FT for its refusal to take down their article on the Adani Group.
Why Govt of India rudely snubs a renowned financial journalist for not accepting Adani company request for taking down an article exposing their shenanigans. https://t.co/e0pYuAO8ab
— प्रमुख नोटिंग्स (@DesiPramuk) April 17, 2023
Another Twitter user could not bring herself to terms with the fact that a WION journalist was tweeting from the event while an FT journalist was allegedly shown the door.
How/why is one WION News correspondent tweeting from this event though, or is this some selective kicking out of journalists? https://t.co/gsac2XcqR0
— Sabah (@_sabahgurmat) April 17, 2023
Yet another Twitter user insinuated that the action was in response to the Financial Times’ coverage of the Adani Group.
Your Newspaper is exposing their friend & they are very scared. https://t.co/ZKsybDaHnv
— OptionTrader (@OptionT02594842) April 17, 2023
As insinuations linking the FT journalist’s expulsion from the event to his newspaper’s reports on the Adani Group spread on social media, just about a quarter to the next hour, Reed informed on Twitter that he was asked to leave by a Russian and not an Indian.
Clarifying re: previous tweet, the person who asked me to leave appeared to be Russian, not Indian.
— John Reed (@JohnReedwrites) April 17, 2023
And hours later, after many social media users pointed out his fallacy, the Financial Times scribe revealed that the journalists were asked to leave after the event was converted to a closed-door event four minutes before it started.
Update (and thanks to people who pointed it out): this was converted to a closed-door event four minutes before it started, eg after most journalists had registered and sat down. pic.twitter.com/UsDG0rzNan
— John Reed (@JohnReedwrites) April 17, 2023
Nevertheless, the entire incident showcases the Financial Times journalist’s disinclination towards uncovering the truth and generating controversy around a non-issue.
Adani Group slams Financial Times’ report as mendacious and a deliberate smear campaign
The episode shines a spotlight on the recent coverage of the Financial Times on the Indian business conglomerate Adani Group following the Hindenburg Research report earlier this year. The Financial Times published an article on 22 March 2023 that said the business conglomerate’s foreign direct investment came from offshore entities linked to his family. In response to the article, the Adani Group had written a letter to the Financial Times, asking it to pull down its article, which it said was a “mendacious, deliberate effort to paint the Adani Group and the Adani family in the worst possible light.”
Slamming the Western publication, the Adani Group said the article demonstrated a willingness to be selective in using publicly available facts, lazy in its approach to understanding disclosures to which its reporters were directed, and made false insinuations against it.
The anti-Modi antecedents of John Reed
It is worth noting that American journalist John Reed has been a staunch anti-Modi critic, with his prejudiced and lopsided articles attacking the Modi government published frequently in the Financial Times. In one such malicious piece by him and published in October 2022, Reed presented a dystopian picture and scaremongered over the alleged shrinking of freedom of expression in India.
The article projected conscientious action by India’s investigative agencies to curb corruption and administrative malpractices against politicians as politically motivated and commissioned by the Centre, with no evidence to back their claims. The article also quoted controversial individuals, including advocate Vrinda Grover, a lawyer who represented Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair in a case over his Hinduphobic social media posts and Siddharth Varadarajan, an American national and the founder of propaganda website The Wire, which had to suffer the ignominy of retracting its Tek Fog and Meta stories after they were proven to be fake and fictitious.
