BBC rapped for describing Nelson Mandela as 'black'

The veteran Indian journalist M.S. Prabhakara disagrees with the BBC's description of Nelson Mandela. He was so upset he sent his former newspaper, The Hindu, this letter for publication:

"It is disgusting, but not surprising, that the BBC in its online world news bulletin should consistently describe Nelson Mandela, lying critically ill in a Pretoria hospital, as "South Africa's first black president" instead of more accurately, and more relevantly in political terms, as South Africa's first democratically elected president."

Prabhakara, once a special correspondent for The Hindu in Guwahati, was formerly the paper's first correspondent in South Africa.

Source: The Hindu Hat tip: Sans Serif