{"id":129788,"date":"2023-02-20T18:46:53","date_gmt":"2023-02-20T13:16:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/?p=129788"},"modified":"2023-02-20T18:46:53","modified_gmt":"2023-02-20T13:16:53","slug":"jagran-owned-vishvas-news-continues-as-ifcn-signatory-despite-violating-codes-of-conduct","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/jagran-owned-vishvas-news-continues-as-ifcn-signatory-despite-violating-codes-of-conduct\/","title":{"rendered":"Jagran-owned Vishvas News continues as IFCN signatory despite violating codes of conduct"},"content":{"rendered":"

In March 2020, Meta (previously Facebook) announced a partnership<\/a> with the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN, set up in 2015 by US no-profit Poynter Institute) ‘to reduce the spread of misinformation and provide more reliable information to users.’ In an interview with American podcaster Joe Rogan, <\/a>the founder of Meta platforms Mark Zuckerberg said in August 2022, “…we do not want to be deciding what is true or false… We also didn’t want to be in the business of deciding which fact-checkers are professional and not. So we basically outsource that to this accreditation (referring to IFCN)… it’s widely respected. It is sort of the best that there is, even though it’s, you know, it’s not without flaws…”<\/p>\n

In the first week of September 2022, IFCN announced<\/a> that it had awarded $450,000 in grants to organizations working to lessen the impact of false and misleading information on WhatsApp. Out of 11 award-winning organizations, three were from India. One of them was Vishvas News<\/a>, which received $50,000 (~40 lakhs). According to the announcement, Vishvas News intended to ‘create a bridge of information between people who are facing a flow of misinformation and have no idea where and how to check for legitimacy.’<\/p>\n

Vishvas News is a subsidiary of MMI Online Limited, the digital arm of Jagran Prakashan Ltd, the parent company of ‘Dainik Jagran’ newspaper, which, according to its website<\/a>, has a daily readership of over 50 million \u2014 one of the largest in India. It is worth noting that Bharat Gupta, the CEO of MMI Online Limited, is one of the 11 board members at the IFCN<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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This report seeks to analyze if Vishvas News follows IFCN codes of conduct<\/a>, and document instances of misinformation by its sister concern, Dainik Jagran, between January 2021 and July 2022.<\/p>\n

Does Vishvas News follow the IFCN codes of conduct?<\/h4>\n

The IFCN has five code of conducts<\/a>\u00a0with multiple sub-points. The following sub-points in pertinent to this report:<\/strong><\/p>\n