Continuing with its long standing trend, post the 2014 general elections, the ‘liberal’ media has been majorly guided by desperation and the urge to please its political overlords, multiple incidents involving senior journalists being caught red handed spreading misleading or outright fake news have surfaced. Shekhar Gupta, founder of The Print also seems to have been caught in a similar controversy. Shekhar Gupta in a tweet yesterday had posted survey numbers allegedly reported by CVoter. In the tweet he said “C-Voter poll predicts 220 for BJP now against 282 in 2014… BJP will be 80-100 seats shorter of its 2014 mark, the brain behind Modi’s Mission 272 Rajesh Jain told The Print”
C-Voter poll predicts 220 for BJP now against 282 in 2014…
BJP will be 80-100 seats shorter of its 2014 mark, the brain behind Modi's Mission 272 Rajesh Jain told ThePrinthttps://t.co/ZOMijlcdV7
— Shekhar Gupta (@ShekharGupta) April 21, 2019
However twitter users were swift to call out the sleight of hand, and pointed out the misleading nature of the tweet. While the Election commission is barred from from putting out any kind of survey during, which the election process takes place, users seemed to be more informed than the seasoned journalist. The users also pointed that the video cited by Shekhar Gupta for his inferences was published on 4th December 2014, essentially making the survey outdated and sharing it after more than 3 months evidently amounting to hidden ulterior agenda.
Taking the charade head on, Yashwant Deshmukh, the managing director and chief editor of CVoter, pointed out the restrictions by the Election Commission and the authenticity of the survey numbers, he also pointed out that Cvoter has not released any survey since the election process had started. he tweeted, “Let me put the record straight: Respecting the ECI embargo, we do NOT release any vote/seat numbers once the election process starts. Either these quoted numbers are from December 2018 survey, or someone is trying to give wrong input in our name. Samachar Samaapt Hue.”
Let me put the record straight: Respecting the ECI embargo, we do NOT release any vote/seat numbers once the election process starts. Either these quoted numbers are from December 2018 survey, or someone is trying to give wrong input in our name.
Samachar Samaapt Hue. https://t.co/5aQEmG8k00
— Yashwant Deshmukh 🇮🇳 (@YRDeshmukh) April 21, 2019
Presenting unverified data in a misleading manner, when India is in the middle of the polling process can surely amount to a violation of the Model Code of Conduct. The ‘liberal’ media has been called out time and time again for its hypocrisy and malafide reporting. However, backed by the Left-media nexus, journalists have been successful in subverting the issues and get out of the controversies without any facing repercussion. However recent loss of monopoly with the increasing penetration of social media , reports and remarks which used to go unchecked and unregulated have to face tough scrutiny from users and stakeholders alike.
