From labelling an Indian school teacher a terrorist to false and exaggerated claims of Indian forces attacking civilian areas in Pakistan, television channels and social media users engaged in spreading a huge amount of mis and disinformation last week when India and Pakistan were in active conflict. The Quint's WebQoof team debunked over 70 fact-check stories in a week since Operation Sindoor began on 7 May.
While this has been a common phenomenon during times of crisis, the involvement of TV news channel in spreading misinformation and unfounded claims increased during Operation Sindoor. Sensational headlines, fabricated visuals, exaggerated claims, and unrelated visuals were all a part of their prime-time bulletins.
While people do fall for misinformation from anonymous social media accounts, false claims spread by mainstream media channels and journalists with lakhs of viewership reaches a larger group of people and creates unnecessary panic.
Let's take a look at this claim, "Maulana Mohammad Iqbal, a Pakistani terrorist was killed by the Indian Forces", which was shared by ABP News, News18, and Zee News along with an image of a Muslim man.
When WebQoof team debunked it, we found out that these claims are false. The man in the visuals lost his life due to cross-border shelling by Pakistan. Moreover, he was an Indian national and a teacher in the local Madrasa, not a Pakistani terrorist as claimed.
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