AltNews and its romance with Police denials
Internet is now available to mass of India; India also emerged as largest market for the Internet. With the rise of Internet, the rise of social media is happening and with rise of both, misinformation or fake news both are becoming unbearable issues. To avoid this, fact-checking came into the picture.
But can we think what can happen if fact-checkers themselves are using their websites for ideological push? Let's take an example of prominent 'fact-checking' website AltNews. AltNews is romancing with Police denials since a long, twisting and cherry-picking them, and this is study of that romance.
Let me clear two things: I don't take guarantee of the veracity of any of the reportings mentioned below and Police denials are not standard fact-checks. There are many different versions of one event and Police's version is just one of that. It happened that Police's version proved wrong in judicial system.
After Nizamuddin Markaz issue, audio clip of Maulana Saad, Tablighi Jamaat chief, went viral in which he was appealing Muslims to gather and to offer the prayers. That clip was available on the official YouTube channel of Tablighi Jamaat too.
On 8th May 2020, Indian Express published a front page story to claim that clip of Maulana Saad was doctored. AltNews cofounder Mohammed Zubair shared that news link from his Twitter handle which he would delete later. But I have archived the tweet before deletion.
Soon, Delhi Police denied the claims made by Indian Express and summoned the reporter who covered that story. But here, Mohammed Zubair chose to stand by Indian Express even after Police dubbed it as "factually incorrect".
Let's take another case. Leftist news portal The Wire published one report in which author claimed that Delhi Police was treating the accused of North-East Delhi riots differently and alleged discrimination. Safoora Zargar and Manish Sirohi, according to report, were arrested under same FIR and still Zargar was in jail while Sirohi was out on the bail.
Author took reference of FIR no. 59 but later, Police stated that those two FIRs were entirely different. Sirohi was not arrested at all due to his connection to riots. Delhi Police wrote lengthy rebuttal of the report and called out factual inaccuracies with the report.
On the other hand, OpIndia, right wing portal, covered story on Gopalganj, Bihar where one boy was allegedly sacrificed to build mosque in the village. Gopalganj Police denied the report of the OpIndia but here comes the response from Pratik Sinha, "fact-checker" and editor of AltNews. It went on to call OpIndia's claims as "unparalleled lies" and "shamelessness".
But can we think what can happen if fact-checkers themselves are using their websites for ideological push? Let's take an example of prominent 'fact-checking' website AltNews. AltNews is romancing with Police denials since a long, twisting and cherry-picking them, and this is study of that romance.
Let me clear two things: I don't take guarantee of the veracity of any of the reportings mentioned below and Police denials are not standard fact-checks. There are many different versions of one event and Police's version is just one of that. It happened that Police's version proved wrong in judicial system.
After Nizamuddin Markaz issue, audio clip of Maulana Saad, Tablighi Jamaat chief, went viral in which he was appealing Muslims to gather and to offer the prayers. That clip was available on the official YouTube channel of Tablighi Jamaat too.
On 8th May 2020, Indian Express published a front page story to claim that clip of Maulana Saad was doctored. AltNews cofounder Mohammed Zubair shared that news link from his Twitter handle which he would delete later. But I have archived the tweet before deletion.
Soon, Delhi Police denied the claims made by Indian Express and summoned the reporter who covered that story. But here, Mohammed Zubair chose to stand by Indian Express even after Police dubbed it as "factually incorrect".
The Indian Express stands by the report.— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) May 10, 2020
The @IndianExpress replies : "The report is based on conversations with sources and officials aware of the probe against Maulana Saad" https://t.co/LNJj3C9ISP pic.twitter.com/kVWjX71xJI
Let's take another case. Leftist news portal The Wire published one report in which author claimed that Delhi Police was treating the accused of North-East Delhi riots differently and alleged discrimination. Safoora Zargar and Manish Sirohi, according to report, were arrested under same FIR and still Zargar was in jail while Sirohi was out on the bail.
Author took reference of FIR no. 59 but later, Police stated that those two FIRs were entirely different. Sirohi was not arrested at all due to his connection to riots. Delhi Police wrote lengthy rebuttal of the report and called out factual inaccuracies with the report.
Here comes another case of The Hindu report written by secretaries of Peoples Union for Democratic Rights. Once again, Delhi Police rebutted this report.Delhi Police's Rejoinder to the above News Article 👇🏾 pic.twitter.com/rMg4pjVpTv— #DilKiPolice Delhi Police (@DelhiPolice) May 15, 2020
None of these three denials which put ideological left wing embarrassment were published on the site of AltNews.Delhi Police's Rebuttal to the report published by @the_hindu 👇🏽https://t.co/GOKozMRomG pic.twitter.com/hU9uR8TdJy— #DilKiPolice Delhi Police (@DelhiPolice) May 16, 2020
On the other hand, OpIndia, right wing portal, covered story on Gopalganj, Bihar where one boy was allegedly sacrificed to build mosque in the village. Gopalganj Police denied the report of the OpIndia but here comes the response from Pratik Sinha, "fact-checker" and editor of AltNews. It went on to call OpIndia's claims as "unparalleled lies" and "shamelessness".
Similarly, news agency ANI reported that Tablighi Jamaat members were quarantined in Noida which was refuted by the DCP Noida. After couple of minutes, AltNews carried "fact-check" and published report.Thread on the unparalleled lies and shamelessness of OpIndia.— Pratik Sinha (@free_thinker) May 17, 2020
Yesterday, @AltNewsHindi showed how OpIndia fabricated a false story about a boy being sacrificed at a mosque in Gopalganj, Bihar. 1/7https://t.co/jHgX7rGr4Z
Why this bias and partisanship in approaching police denials? Frankly, we don't know. It may be because people who are operating this website are Leftists. "Alt News is a byproduct of the ideology I have grown up with..," Pratik Sinha reportedly told to Business Standard.
To Reddiff News correspondent, Sinha reportedly told, "I have an ideological leaning. I am oriented towards Left."
Though he said that he doesn't support political party, not even left. But is this bias due to that ideology and its byproduct? Time to think.
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