Media analysis

Media outlet Hindustan shares 9-year-old image from Bangladesh as Bihar floods

Priyanka Jha3rd August 2020

Conditions in northern Bihar remain grim due to the recent floods. Photos and videos of the flooding are being widely shared across social media. A Twitter user posted an image…

Goat “arrested” for not wearing mask in Kanpur? Bizarre media misreports

Pooja Chaudhuri27th July 2020

A bizarre piece of news made headlines on July 27 — a goat was “arrested” by Kanpur police for not wearing a mask. An IANS feed republished by National Herald,…

SP’s Azam Khan did not remark on Ram Mandir: News Track Live, Swarajya misreport

Sam Jawed27th July 202028th July 2020

News portal News Track Live published an article that Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan has declared that he is a ‘Ram bhakt’ and treatened to take his life by…

Coronavirus: Photos, videos viral with false “organ trading of dead bodies” claim

Archit & Kinjal25th July 202027th July 2020

Multiple social media users claimed that organs were missing from the dead body of a patient who died of COVID-19 in Mumbai. On July 20, IBN 24×7 News (archived link)…

Russia’s Sechenov University has NOT ‘completed’ COVID vaccine clinical trials; media misreports

Archit15th July 202015th July 2020

Around July 12, several media outlets from all over the world reported that Russia’s Sechenov University has completed clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccine. These reports also suggested that this is…

Yang Jianli said 100 Chinese died in Galwan? Republic TV, Kapil Mishra share unverified news

Pooja Chaudhuri7th July 202010th July 2020

The latest figure on Chinese casualties in the Galwan Valley, if social media claims are to be believed, is 100. BJP leader Kapil Mishra tweeted a report by an obscure…

IANS, media outlets fall for fake Twitter account of Sushant Singh Rajput’s father

Pooja Chaudhuri6th July 20206th July 2020

News agency IANS tweeted on July 4 that a Twitter account of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s father has surfaced through which he is demanding an inquiry of the Central…

News18 broadcasts 2016 video from Malaysia as Chinese man beats Pakistani driver in Karachi

Pooja Chaudhuri29th June 20202nd July 2020

A video of a man thrashing another with a stick was shared by Twitter user @TheZaiduLeaks which poses as a Pakistani handle. The clip was shared with the claim, “Graphic…

Times Now falls for fake WhatsApp forward listing names of 30 dead Chinese soldiers

Pooja Chaudhuri17th June 202018th June 2020

A military stand-off between Indian and Chinese troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) escalated on the night of June 15 leading to the death of at least 20…

India-China dispute: 43 Chinese soldiers killed? Media outlets and journalists mislead

Pooja Chaudhuri17th June 202017th June 2020

On June 16, the ongoing border dispute between India and China took a critically violent turn as the Indian side reported the death of 20 soldiers in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley….