Taking former Australia cricketer Dean Jones to task for his remark on South Africa's Hashim Amla, former tennis great Vijay Amritraj said racism and personal insults have no place in broadcasting.
"Such kind of comments and remarks cannot be allowed for commentators and there is no way what Jones said can be condoned," Amritraj, who himself has taken effortlessly to broadcasting after his playing days, told reporters.
The former Indian tennis ace was in Delhi as brand ambassador of the second Delhi Half Marathon, to be run on October 15.
"As mediapersons we have a responsibility towards the viewers and listeners and we should desist from making such comments," the former Indian Davis Cup captain said.
Jones referred to Amla as "the terrorist" when the bearded South African, a Muslim, took a catch to dismiss Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara in the second innings of the second Test at the P Sara stadium in Colombo on Monday.
As the remarks were heard through the commentary microphones, a large number of messages of protests, mostly from South Africa, which has a sizeable Muslim population, poured in to the broadcaster Ten Sports.
Jones apologized, but the channel sacked him and the former Australian batsman has since left Sri Lanka.
Amritraj said commentators needed to be all the more careful these days as most sports events are telecast live.
"In live telecasts, there is no chance of editing and what is said gets to the whole world. Hence, one should think before opening his or her mouth."
However, the tennis ace did not think there is any need for a code of conduct for commentators and said it is up to individuals and broadcasters to deal with the tricky issue.
"Every individual has a standard of ethics and it is up to every channel to decide one for itself. I do not think that there is any need for a code of conduct in this regard," Amritraj said, adding an organisation must devise a way of its own to punish such errant behaviour.
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