It looks like the fake news factory in India won’t settle down anytime soon. Hardly had the news of controversial journalist Vinod Dua peddling fake news against Union Minister Nitin Gadkari cooled down when Times of India caused a major embarrassment to Indian journalism around the world. Not only did they publish an entirely fictional article involving ex Australian pacer Mitchell Johnson, but they also got it retweeted by the International Cricket Council itself.
It all started with a tweet by the sports section of The Times of India, which goes by the handle @TOISportsNews, as shown below :
Any batsman will think twice before taking Jasprit Bumrah on: Mitchell Johnson https://t.co/loe3RASCM0
— TOI Sports News (@TOISportsNews) December 23, 2018
According to this article, Mitchell Johnson was all praise for the Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah, and in a long questionnaire with the author of this article, he allegedly addressed him as the ‘Trump Card’ for the Indian cricket team, who is currently playing Australia at their home ground.
The same article was shared on the official portal of the International Cricket Council, as shown below :
"He hardly bowls a loose delivery, and any batsman will think twice before taking him on."@MitchJohnson398 likes what he sees of Jasprit Bumrah. 🔥👇https://t.co/gJBOK1gquH pic.twitter.com/R1rjqbf7ll
— ICC (@ICC) December 23, 2018
However, neither Mitchell Johnson was present in Melbourne, nor did he have a conversation with the TOI journalist as mentioned in the article. Though he doesn’t deny all the points, he maintained that he didn’t give an official interview to TOI. He had to post two back to back tweets to clarify his current position :
https://twitter.com/MitchJohnson398/status/1076876808560140288
https://twitter.com/MitchJohnson398/status/1076868926296838144
In other cases, such articles would’ve been taken down, and the portal would’ve apologized for the same. However, taking shamelessness to an all new level, Times of India not only refused to take down the article. To top it all, the news portal seems to have taken a leaf from the antics of notorious fake news peddler Vinod Dua, as they shamelessly tried to justify their position by posting the following tweet :
TOI stands by its interview with @MitchJohnson398 which was carried on December 23, 2018. Read our statement below. pic.twitter.com/YVLicywIfS
— TOI Sports (@toisports) December 24, 2018
This is not the first time that TOI has embarrassed us on the international stage. The notorious fake news peddlers that TOI has been, they are repeat offenders when it comes to peddling fake news. Be it endorsing the lies of the ex-CM Siddaramaiah, or misquoting leaders like Amit Shah and Uma Bharati, or even using misleading sketches to demonize Sanatan Dharma, even when the actual culprit didn’t belong to that religion at all, you name it and Times of India has done it. As such, the current fake news peddled in the name of Mitchell Johnson is just daily bread and butter for this so-called news portal.
Moreover, there are a few questions for TOI as well. If their interview was really genuine, as they claim in their official statement, why did Mitchell Johnson have to clarify with this tweet?
https://twitter.com/MitchJohnson398/status/1076994442593165312
As explained to Abhishek Baxi, digital consultant and contributor at Forbes magazine, Mitchell Johnson apparently had a casual chat with many Indian journalists over the tour of India down Under [i.e. Australia]. If this is cent percent true, then TOI should be the last portal to issue such a shameless clarification, even when they are known for peddling brazen lies in the name of news. How can an informal conversation be passed off as a formal interview? Does TOI have an answer for that?