Shashi Tharoor lashes out at media, says he is being defamed

Under intense media glare over the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar a year ago, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor lashed out at the media on Thursday, saying he was being "defamed day in and day out" over the issue.

Tharoor, who refused to take any questions on the death regarding which Delhi Police filed a murder case last week, said the advent of 24/7 TV channels and the pressure of breaking news and TRPs has led to a race to the bottom in terms of sensation, voyeurism and headline grabbing.

"I have been misquoted in media, being defamed now day in and day out," the former Union Minister said.

Describing the media as "free and irresponsible", he said, "90% of Indian journalists do not record what I am saying. Almost every quote attributed to me in the Indian media is an inadequate para-phrase by the journalist of what he thinks I said.

"My fluency is only valued to those who are actually hearing me. If tomorrow there is a newspaper article about this, I guarantee the quotes will be wrong." Pushkar died on January 17 last year and Delhi Police on January one this year registered a case of murder in the case on the basis of an AIIMS medical report that concluded that her death was unnatural and due to poisoning but did not reveal the nature and the quantity of the poison.