Indian media had a full calendar in 2024 - starting with coverage of Ayodhya Ram temple inauguration, the farmers march to Delhi, and high stakes Lok Sabha and state elections. All of this while also reporting on the continuing violent conflict in Manipur and brutal crimes such as the RG Kar rape and murder case in Kolkata and the Pune Porsche hit-and-run incident.
Indian media also reported on international events like the drumming out of Sheikh Hasina's government in Bangladesh and the welcoming of Donald Trump as the President of the United States.
From running AI voice clones as real voices of politicians, falling for false claims about Canada banning an Australian-Indian news site to misreporting on events in neighbours countries, Indian dropped the ball on major news stories.
In 2024, BOOM wrote 1280 fact-checks across three languages - English, Hindi and Bengali. Fifty one of these fact-checks were on misreporting by mainstream media outlets - including news channels, news websites and wire agencies.
Since 2020, BOOM has published an annual report of all the fact-checks we did on false or misleading claims being spread by media outlets. In 2020, as the pandemic forced the world to a standstill, we wrote about 40 instances of misreporting by the media. This fell to 27 in 2021, and rose sharply to 76 in 2022, while staying steady at 77 in 2023. In 2024, this number is at 51 fact checks on media misreporting.
WHICH MEDIA HOUSE MISREPORTED THE MOST?
Five news outlets featured at the top of the list in 2024’s media misreporting list – Republic TV, ABP, Hindustan Times, News 18 and Times Now.
This includes misreporting by the English language and regional language circulations.
Republic, placed at the top of the list featured in 11 fact checks with nine strikes of media misreporting by its English language channel Republic TV and one each against its Hindi channel Republic Bharat and Bengali channel Republic Bangla.
Barring 2022, Republic and its subsidiary channels have been a regular feature in BOOM’s annual media misreporting chart with 3 fact checks in 2020, 6 in 2021 and 2023.
Inversely, Times Now saw a dip, appearing in 7 fact checks for reporting misinformation as actual news. The channel has been a constant, appearing in 8 fact checks in 2020, 6 in 2021, 15 in 2022, and 18 in 2023.
Zee News also saw a drop to 7 fact checks after being among the top three misreporting outlets since 2021 (10 fact-checks), 2022 (20 fact-checks), and 2023 (14 fact-checks).
News18, which also featured among the top three media outlets to be fact-checked by BOOM in 2022 (14 fact-checks) and 2023 (19 fact-checks), took the fourth place in 2024, with 9 fact-checks being written by BOOM on their misreporting.
Hindustan Times in 2024 featured in 9 fact checks on media misreporting. The media house's previous years numbers were one fact check in 2020, five in 2021, eight in 2022 and 11 in 2023.
BOOM brings you the top six stories the media got wrong in 2024
1. Media Outlets Falsely Claim Canada Blocked FB Page Of an Australian News Site
Media Outlets : News 18, India Today, Indian Express, Times of India, NDTV, Deccan Herald, Hindustan Times, Money Control, Republic TV, Times Now, The Print, PTI and ANI.
Diplomatic ties between India and Canada slumped to their lowest in 2024 after Canada accused India of orchestrating the killing of a Sikh separatist on its soil - a charge India has rubbished. Media outlets amplified a false claim that the Canadian government blocked content on the Facebook page of an Australian news outlet censoring them from showing a press conference by India's Foreign Minister S Jaishankar. BOOM found the claims to be false.
Neither the website of Australia Today nor its Facebook page were blocked under any specific order by the Canadian government. Posts on Australia Today's Facebook page were not visible because of Meta’s restricted access to all news content (local and international) on its platforms in Canada. Facebook owner Meta has since 2023, been in a stalemate with the Canadian government over the country's Online News Act, which seeks compensation for news businesses from dominant tech platforms.
Read our investigation here
2. News Outlets Run AI Audio Clips As Real Conversations Between Supriya Sule And Nana Patole
Media Outlets : India Today, Aaj Tak, Republic, News18, Republic World, Times Now, NDTV
The day of the Maharashtra polls, news channels aired fake AI generated audio clips, claiming they were conversations between opposition leaders Supriya Sule (NCP), Nana Patole (Congress) and two others about misappropriating bitcoins from a 2018 cryptocurrency fraud case to fund the then ongoing state elections.
The clips credited to the BJP, were all AI generated voice clones.
Read here
3. Misreporting Around Hindu Leader Chinmoy Das's Legal Counsel
Media Outlets : The Times Of India, Hindustan Times, DD News, The Indian Express, News 18, The Print, AajTak, Zee, India Today, Business Standard, ABP, TV9, One India, NDTV, The Hindu, Republic, First Post, The Economic Times, Live Mint
The arrest of Hindu leader Chinmony Krishna Das in Bangladesh led to violent protests. Indian media outlets carried several reports about the arrest but also misreported viral unverified posts, amplifying misinformation as actual news.
First was news outlets carried claimed that a lawyer who died in the violent protests was Das's legal counsel. BOOM was able to confirm that the slain lawyer Saiful Islam, who was a member of Chattogram Bar Association, was not representing Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari.
In the second instance, news outlets aired the photo of an injured protester, Ramen Roy, falsely claiming he was Das's lawyer and beaten up by local Muslims. The outlets further falsely claimed that his house was also ransacked. BOOM in its fact check found that Roy was not Das's lawyer and suffered injuries while protesting against Das's arrest.
Read our fact check on this here and here
Media Outlets Misreport Updates From RG Kar Case
Media Outlets : Republic, Zee News, Times Now Bangla, Calcutta Television Network
The brutal rape and murder of a doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and hospital in West Bengal led to nationwide outrage, raising questions of womens safety especially at workplaces. Media outlets carried daily and at times hourly updates about the case, at times airing misinformation.
4. Unrelated Photo Claimed To Be Rape Accused Sanjoy Roy
A photo of an individual cutting a cake in the presence of former principal of RG Kar Medical College Sandip Ghosh was carried by news outlets claiming he is the RG Kar rape accused Sanjoy Roy.
BOOM found these claims to be false and identified the man in the photo as an employee of Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital (CNMCH) employee Prasun Chatterjee.
Read more here
5. Media Outlets Misreport That 150mg Semen Found In RG Kar Rape Victim
Leading media outlets aired viral misinformation spreading posts that claimed 150mg of semen was found in the rape victim. In addition to broadcasting unverified information as real news, the outlets also falsely claimed that the autopsy report was the source for the information. BOOM found this claim to be misleading; Dr. JA Jaylal, former National President of the Indian Medical Association, confirmed to us that according to the autopsy report, the '150m' figure in grams referred to weight of the entirety of the "External and Internal Genitalia". The West Bengal government also relayed the same to the Supreme Court, during a suo moto plea hearing on the case.
Read our fact check here
6. News Outlets Misidentify Unrelated Woman As Wife Of Bengaluru Suicide Victim
Media Outlets : Republic, Free Press Journal, ABP News, News18, Live Hindustan
The death by suicide of a 34-year-old Atul Subhash, in Bangalore, accusing his estranged wife, her relatives and a judge of extortion, harassment and corruption caused an uproar around X (formerly Twitter) especially around rights for men under Indian laws.
While reporting on the case, media outlets misreported and used the photo of an unrelated woman as that of Subhash’ estranged wife - Nikita Singhania.
BOOM found that image being shared is not of Subhash's wife, but of a different person, who also happens to be named Nikita Singhania.
Read our fact check here