Free Press Journal faces public irk for its ‘racist’ headline on Gukesh’s victory

The Free Press Journal, the English daily newspaper was founded by Indian Journalist and nationalist, Swaninathan Sadanand in order to use it as a voice for Indians during the Indian Freedom struggle. It was established to cover the Indian point of view of the regular events which often missed to get included in news agencies owned by Britishers. However, the outlet is now facing public ire over accusations of downgrading its standard and resorting to “racism”.

Notably, on the 12th of December, History was made by the 18-year-old Indian Grandmaster (GM) Gukesh Dommaraju defeating reigning champion Ding Liren, from China, in the final game of the World Chess Championship to become the youngest world champion in the history of chess. With this monumental victory, Gukesh became the second Indian GM, after the legendary Viswanathan Anand, to claim the coveted title.

While India celebrated D Gukesh’s historic World Chess Championship victory, with newspapers, television channels, and social media hailing his achievement, The Free Press Journal sparked outrage with an undeniably racist headline. Following Gukesh’s win against Ding Liren in the final, the publication ran the headline “Sambhar Outwits Chow Mein.” The offensive phrasing equated Gukesh to “Sambhar,” referencing his South Indian heritage, and Ding Liren to “Chow Mein,” based on his Chinese nationality. 

Outraged by the contentious headline, netizens bashed The Free Press Journal and asked if this is the best headline the columnist and editor of the journal could find. Some expressed their despair with the newspaper and questioned their journalism.

A social media handle (Username- @Troll_cinema) expressed its outrage over the racist headline and wrote, “We just witnessed the greatest sporting achievement in Indian history. And we had a very dignified loser in Ding. And this is how a newspaper with HQ in #Mumbai chose to headline. Free Press Journal do you have an iota of shame or would you like to be called as #Vada Pav eating journos?!”

Similarly another twitter user (Username: @ERDrJo) expressing his dissent with the headline commented, “The Free Press Journal is an Indian English-language daily newspaper that was established in 1928 by Swaminathan Sadanand, who also acted as its first editor. First produced to complement a news agency, the Free Press of India, it was a supporter of the Independence movement. It is published in Mumbai, India.From there, to this…What A Fall…”