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TORONTO, CANADA, August 20, 2003: The Toronto Star’s Ombudsman, Don Steller, issued the following statement in response to Hindu complaints about a picture of an unclothed statue of the Goddess Durga run prominently in their newspaper: “UNDRAPED GODDESS. Durga is the multi-armed, Hindu goddess of power. Each fall, statues of Durga are worshipped for nine days at prayer festivals, and immersed in water. Last Saturday, the Star ran a Reuters photo of a craftsman in India making a statue of Durga. It ran with a feature on Hindu festival preparations here. The idol in the large color photo was unclothed, dramatically so. The picture stirred strong protests from some Hindu readers who said the undraped, frontal view was at least disrespectful, at worst ‘blasphemous.’ Said an editor: ‘We’re sorry if this representation of the goddess offended some readers. It was unintentional.’ An effort to photograph a local statue being built had failed, she explained. So the wire photo was used. Apparently, the Star didn’t understand the idol would never appear unclothed. When asked, several Hindus said the photo didn’t offend them. Still, it’s a reminder that matters of faith are delicate. Editors need to guard against insensitivity.” India Cause, which led the protest, called the apology, “half-hearted.” HPI adds: It is useful for people and organizations working to educate the Western press in Hinduism that reporters are trained to be very careful with terminology. Leave aside sensitive religious issues, the average reporter knows such minute details that one has to capitalize Jeep and Rollerblades because those terms are trademarks. So it is reasonable for Hindus to request news organizations to learn in detail what is and isn’t offensive to Hindus, and to ask knowledgeable sources when they don’t know.

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