When Fake News Gets REAL!
When Fake News Gets REAL!
Those who are active on Twitter will definitely know about Dr. Aisha Dr. Aisha was a young, dynamic, South Africa based doctor who was getting treatment for coronavirus Her family members were posting pictures. She was being taken into the ICU. We kept receiving constant updates. A lot of people were very surprised and extremely upset with the developments of these kinds of people who were falling victims to coronavirus When the discussion started on Twitter, then news broke that Dr. Aisha is no longer with us And her family members said that they would gradually delete her accounts (on social media) In the flow of this discussion, Dr. Aisha started to top the trends on Twitter on Sunday and this upset a lot of people They were even more upset when they found out that Dr. Aisha wasn't who she was portrayed to be The pictures that they were seeing were actually stock images from a stock image photography Dr. Aisha and her Twitter account might not be with us anymore but she has left us with a very deep message and that is- those who manufacture fake news can play with our emotions so easily! And that they have no "limit" (to what they can spread a fake news about) and how gullible are we to believe every news that we see on the social media/Whatsapp
Here in this article , we will talk about 8 different types of fake news and will try to explain to you the importance of pausing and verifying before forwarding a news Because fake news is spreading and influencing us more than actual/real news.
Garners TRP
number 1- The Fake news that garners TRP It's important to discuss this because fake news is already slightly big, but when it is broadcasted on TV, it increases in magnitude manifolds Presenting an eloquent example of this, Navika ji came onto TimesNow and told us that they finally got to know that we(India) have also manned down 30 Chinese soldiers Along with that snippet of information, they also possessed proof as well as the names.
While this comedy show was still in progress, they got the news that perhaps in the greed to muster TRP they might have jumped the gun because it might be possible that it merely a fake broadcast message So, the clarification followed within a few minutes So, now you cannot say that TimesNow is not a fake news busting organization. Take a look at how they did exactly that "...some agencies saying- even this list put out by Global Times could be a fake forward." Did you see that ? First they broke the news and then followed it up with busting the fake news. This is called TRP journalism No matter what you say, the numbers of the show that day have already poured in
Emotional Fake news
Coming to point number 2- Emotional Fake news We're already in the midst of a pandemic, we are in dire need of positive stories And it is not that the media does not report positive stories Numerous positive stories have poured in and I want such stories to be reflected as well. But this too, is made wrongly made use of by some people For example-m the drone boy Drone boy Pratap N M is of 22 years of age and he has made more than 600 drones using e-waste It seems as if he was making drones from the time he held a toy gun in hand.
It is an extremely positive story- a poor boy going on international conferences And the Prime Minister Narendra Modi was so impressed by his talent that he directly recruited him in DRDO. You might recall the Uri movie here A young prodigy who outsmarts older scientists in drone manufacturing. He has also been awarded with the Albert Einstein Innovation Gold medal.The problem arose when fact checkers tried to carry out some investigation about him Neither did they find the Albert Einstein Innovation Gold medal Nor did they find any employment history in DRDO. What was uncovered was that he went to international drone competitions and international drone expos and got himself clicked in front of the drones And he fabricated this entire string of lies that these were his achievements and that the Prime Minister is his fan, etc etc. So if you come across such an extremely positive story, then pause a little. Try to investigate and verify whether your emotions are being toyed with or not.
The Supreme Court Fake news
Point Number 3- The Supreme Court Fake news If you fall into the trap of fake news, then it is not majorly your fault because even premier people/institutions have fallen victim to that Fake news is being peddled even in the Supreme court these days It so happened that the proceedings on what the government is doing on the migrant crisis were in progress on 28th May, 2020 .
Our Solicitor general, Tushar Mehta, said that these people(who were bringing this issue to notice) were "armchair journalists" They were "prophets of doom" who should not be paid heed to He claimed that the government was working day and night (to solve this issue). And then, And then, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta went on to elaborate an example before the Supreme Court And this is a very famous example This is a photograph from Sudan which was fetched the Pulitzer Prize for its photographer- Kevin Carter He was photographing a child and a vulture came and sat nearby And Tushar ji went on to tell the Supreme Court that such photographers were like the vulture themselves And this is why Carter later committed suicide when he understood that he too was behaving like a vulture when he was photographing that little child There's one problem though- The entire story that was narrated by Tushar ji in the Supreme Court is actually a whatsapp forward Things did not happen that way. First of all, the job of a journalist is to capture photographs and talk about the scene. It is the job of the government to help. Another thing that was wrongly pointed out is that the photographer realized his folly and he committed suicide because of this It has been proved that this suicide was the result of financial constraints, heartbreak and depression But such narratives get birthed on WhatsApp and make their way to even the Supreme Court.
"Sacking" fake news
Coming to point number 4- the "Sacking" fake news This can happen with you or me too Suddenly, on 4th of June, a man named Asif Khan started to go viral because he had put up a disparaging religious post This infuriated people.
It was found out that this person works in Go Air GoAir was tagged and information was demanded on whether he worked for GoAir or not and it was demanded that strict action be taken against him GoAir responded with a quick action and a notice that said That Asif khan did work with them but their services were being terminated owing to the obnoxious post put up by him This is akin to saying that Akash Banerjee is the nephew of Mamta Banerjee because their surnames match So, that is the end of the story and this solicited no further investigation When investigation was finally conducted later and the real Asif Khan put up his post and showed his real Twitter handle, then it was found out that someone else had created an account to put up these blasphemous posts and the real Asif Khan had to pay the price of that. Now, according to latest reports, GoAir has revoked his termination but the inquiry is still on So, we have to steer clear of such news as well that target other people and we are not even again that we are indulging in a witch hunt against somebody But the real culprit is someone else
That empties pockets
Point number 5- The fake news that empties pockets This fake news can hit you and me as well There was a time when the Mumbai police was in pursuit to arrest and corner Haji Mastan and D company Today, the Mumbai police tries to corner fake news.
This time, the Mumbai police itself was made use of to propagate fake news A clip surfaced where the Mumbai police is seen warning the people to not receive any calls from a number that start with 140 because if they did so, their entire bank account would be emptied We all are such helpless people! First of all, there is no technology that can empty bank accounts with just one call without any pin or OTP But the people are extremely wary of such news So, they believed this news and then the Mumbai police was approached Mumbai police then investigated into how they made such an announcement.
Then it was found out that SonyLiv had released a clip to promote its web series That clip was wrongly used and it caused trouble to the people as well This fake news was finally busted but this goes on to show that any thing that is absolute malarkey which can (claim to )hit us financially, emotionally are believed by us very easily
That empties pockets
Point number 6- The ghost related fake news Look at these astonishing visuals. Is this some ghost exercising in the dead of the night ? It's also worth wondering as to why a ghost needs to exercise But the people did not think that far.
The people only saw that the exercise machine was moving on its own Some say this incident is from UP, some say it is from the Japanese Park in Delhi Even the police had to investigate into it It was later found out that upon excessive greasing/oiling and moving it with a lot of force, then this exercise equipment would keep moving on its own for a long time Some children or unemployed youth pulled a prank and it became a sensational fake news and the people believed that it was a paranormal activity. Some news channels even carried out a full investigation on this incident This shows that irrespective of whether the fake news is about your wallet or about a ghost, these stories become viral so easily.
the "propaganda" fake news
Point number 7- the "propaganda" fake news In the month of June, retired general Brajesh and told the people that this is a befitting reply from India to China. Our new Apache helicopters were on patrolling duty over the Pangong Lake.
Now, China would "tremble with fear" Amar Ujala also published this Later on, investigation revealed that this was a war on the social media itself because these are the Apache helicopters of American Forces patrolling over a lake in California and were pulling off a demonstration This is not the Pangong Lake Even when this real report came to the fore, the people who had falsely reported it said that it could happen in India too. This gives out a "feel good" factor If a social media war broke out between India and China then India would completely ravage China in the war on social media and the people would buy that too But unfortunately, in reality, China is still encroaching on our lands but there are no viral news reports on that.
The politics and Narrative setting Fake
Finally, point number 8- The politics and Narrative setting Fake news God save us from this type of fake news because this one has no limits! But I'd like to give you a small example- When the protest in Shaheen Bagh stretched into months, then even the government tried to discredit it Numerous fake news articles of people being paid money to protest came forth because they were not ready to believe that this could have been voluntary How could the grandmothers and ladies of Shaheen Bagh show up everyday like this without being paid? And so, such fake news came to light - 500 Rupees, 7pm-12pm, No bargaining and people began to believe it, even though it was so brazen Even if someone was taking money, they would not do so in such an open manner with such a huge poster overlooking This is called a "confirmation bias". A fake news that confirms the suspicion in our minds is believed by us, without any proof Think about how arduous it is- we merely categorized some fake news and it led to such a lengthy episode What would happen if we began to talk about all the fake news This episode is only to make you understand that so many humongous fake news have been spread in the recent past which have been believed by us with so much ease This is why it is mandatory that we start an initiative against fake news and stay wary of fake news.
But do support the AltNews Because they are the ones to give us all of this information. These are some prominent fake news spotted by their radar and they do this job everyday so that the initiative against Fake news is kept fueled because as of now, even the mainstream media is lending support to fake news and Whatsapp.
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