Addressed to:
Editors-in-chief of Zee News, India Today, Times Now, News18, AajTak
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of India, Government of India
Demands:
News channels must issue a public apology for spreading misinformation and false propaganda
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting must hold news channels accountable for putting unverified information on air
In the flurry of information during the armed conflict between India and Pakistan, it became increasingly difficult to trust which information was true and which wasn't.
Amid official statements, social media chaos, and TV coverage, many news channels chose to chase TRPs instead of facts. Both social media and news channels were abuzz with unverified videos, tacky newsroom simulations of conflict, and sensational claims without context, effectively turning a moment of national crisis into a theatre of misinformation!
Instead of helping viewers understand what was happening, they left us questioning everything, from the legitimacy of images to the very basics of what we were being told. This continued despite the fact that many viewers, whose families were caught amidst the crossfire in regions that were under attack, waited eagerly to hear an accurate account about the situation unfolding on ground.
Among those channels spreading unverified information were Zee News, who falsely claimed there was a coup in Pakistan. India Today claimed that the Indian Navy attacked Karachi. Yet another news channel reported that a person killed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district was a ‘top terrorist’. This baseless piece of information was widely circulated before Poonch police stepped in and refuted the claim!
While uncertainty, confusion and lack of clear information is common in times of conflict, often termed as the ‘Fog Of War’, the media, as the fourth pillar of democracy, is responsible for cutting through that clutter and bringing truth to the public.
Instead, we saw how certain news channels actually contributed to that fog of war by airing unverified information. And the result? The public was left in the dark, unable to discern fact from fiction!
This emerged as a dangerous trend. Especially in times of conflict, when public sentiment is raw, misinformation has the potential to escalate tensions, deepen divides, and put lives at risk.
We are urging the aforementioned news channels to publicly apologise for misleading content. Such content must be retracted with immediate effect. Additionally, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) must hold these news channels accountable! Fact-checking and verification of sources are cornerstones of reporting and should be upheld.
We must see an end to sensationalism, and a rise in credible, fact-based reporting!
Sources
Addressed to:
Editors-in-chief of Zee News, India Today, Times Now, News18, AajTak
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of India, Government of India
Demands:
News channels must issue a public apology for spreading misinformation and false propaganda
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting must hold news channels accountable for putting unverified information on air
In the flurry of information during the armed conflict between India and Pakistan, it became increasingly difficult to trust which information was true and which wasn't.
Amid official statements, social media chaos, and TV coverage, many news channels chose to chase TRPs instead of facts. Both social media and news channels were abuzz with unverified videos, tacky newsroom simulations of conflict, and sensational claims without context, effectively turning a moment of national crisis into a theatre of misinformation!
Instead of helping viewers understand what was happening, they left us questioning everything, from the legitimacy of images to the very basics of what we were being told. This continued despite the fact that many viewers, whose families were caught amidst the crossfire in regions that were under attack, waited eagerly to hear an accurate account about the situation unfolding on ground.
Among those channels spreading unverified information were Zee News, who falsely claimed there was a coup in Pakistan. India Today claimed that the Indian Navy attacked Karachi. Yet another news channel reported that a person killed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district was a ‘top terrorist’. This baseless piece of information was widely circulated before Poonch police stepped in and refuted the claim!
While uncertainty, confusion and lack of clear information is common in times of conflict, often termed as the ‘Fog Of War’, the media, as the fourth pillar of democracy, is responsible for cutting through that clutter and bringing truth to the public.
Instead, we saw how certain news channels actually contributed to that fog of war by airing unverified information. And the result? The public was left in the dark, unable to discern fact from fiction!
This emerged as a dangerous trend. Especially in times of conflict, when public sentiment is raw, misinformation has the potential to escalate tensions, deepen divides, and put lives at risk.
We are urging the aforementioned news channels to publicly apologise for misleading content. Such content must be retracted with immediate effect. Additionally, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) must hold these news channels accountable! Fact-checking and verification of sources are cornerstones of reporting and should be upheld.
We must see an end to sensationalism, and a rise in credible, fact-based reporting!
Sources