Times Now shares footage of West Bengal house collapse as that of Kerala - Alt News
Jignesh Patel
19th August 2018 / 12:09 am / Last updated: 19th August 2018
Times Now editor-in-chief Rahul Shivshankar started off a primetime debate on Kerala floods stating, “Viewers, we begin with a story of devastation, the pictures that you are going to see on your screens in just about 30 seconds are pictures of deluged districts of Kerala.”
#IndiaForKerala
Roads, airport closed. Red alert across the state. Has the time come to declare the Kerala flood crisis as a 'national disaster'?
Rahul Shivshankar #IndiaForKerala
For more details: https://bit.ly/2MCOpYg
Posted by TIMES NOW on Friday, 17 August 2018
Starting 0:45, the Times Now video above has visuals of a two-storey house being washed away by floods. According to the text on the screen, the video is claimed to be from Kushal Nagar, Kerala. At 2:28, the same visuals are shown for a second time. The relevant portion of the Times Now video can be seen below.
Bankura district was hit by the floods in West Bengal this year. An article published by The Hindu on August 7, 2018, stated, “Two people died and at least 2,500 were affected as several areas of Bankura district were flooded due to heavy rain on Monday. Many houses were also damaged.” The visuals of a two storey house in Bankura washed away by the floods were widely broadcasted by several media organizations. This is the same video that was broadcasted as Kushal Nagar, Kerala by Times Now.
On cam: Flood washes away 2-storey house in West Bengal's Bankura
Download the ET App here: https://t.co/uh8yOEcFSX pic.twitter.com/m2E7T7chGl
— EconomicTimes (@EconomicTimes) August 7, 2018
In fact, even Times Now had reported this video to be from Bankura in an article on their website.
The devastating floods in Kerala has killed over 300 people. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has called for help to rebuild the lives of people in the state. While Kerala reels under nature’s fury, it is incumbent upon media organisations to cover the devastation and deluge in a sensitive and accurate manner, and the use of misleading images and/or videos does little justice to the cause of accurate depiction of events.
Jignesh is a writer and researcher at Alt News. He has a knack for visual investigation with a major interest in fact-checking videos and images. He has completed his Masters in Journalism from Gujarat University.
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