On Friday, Zee News issued an apology over a fake news report regarding coronavirus spread in Aurnachal Pradesh. Since then #ThooSudhirChaudharyThoo has been trending on Twitter.
Earlier, Zee News had carried a report claiming 11 Tabhlighi Jamaat members from Arunachal Pradesh were tested positive for coronavirus. After which, Arunachal Pradesh's Directorate of Information & Public Relations department had tweeted saying, "This is to clarify that Arunachal Pradesh has got only 1 COVID-19 positive case till date. The reporting by Zee News is false and does not carry any authenticity."
Later, the news channel ran an apology on its channel which read, "Due to human error Zee News ran the wrong news. We apologise for our mistake." After Zee News apologised, netizens took to Twitter and slammed the channel and its prime time anchor Sudhir Chaudhary for running fake news. One user said, "shame on you Zee News." While other user questioned, "Is sorry enough?? What about those Anti-Muslim poisons spread resulting verbal & physical attacks on muslims are continue to take place?? Why not to book anchors of these news channels under NSA to divide India on religious grounds??"
Here's what netizens had to say:
Earlier this week, ANI Editor-In-Chief Smita Prakash was trending after the Noida Police shared a tweet accusing the news agency's Uttar Pradesh handle, @ANIUP, of spreading fake news. Following this, #SmitaPrakash_is_LadyGoebbels and #ThooSmitaPrakashThoo started trending on the micro blogging site.
Even, BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya was accused of spreading fake news. Sharing an APB TV news clip on Friday, Malviya tweeted, “Corona infections would have crossed 8.2 lakh in India by April 15 if there was no lockdown here: ICMR research. The number of corona positive patients is around 6,400 as on April 10.” But later ICMR clarified there was no such report. Malviya is still to delete the tweet and was trolled by many for his continuous sharing of fake news.
