The amount of lies floating around is so much that despite keeping a vigilant eye, sometimes we miss out. But social media doesn’t. On Monday we had dissected Vinod Dua’s video for the left-leaning propaganda website The Wire, which had downplayed Moody’s upgrade.
Scientist and columnist Anand Ranganathan, who has a way with facts and has his satire mistaken for real news by mainstream media quite often, took it upon himself to add the last bit of fact check we missed in our post. Vinod Dua, in his factually incorrect video had mentioned an article by The Wire titled “At 732 Million, India Tops List on Number of People Without Access to Toilets”
The report went viral and was picked up by many in the mainstream media. Ranganathan breaks down the report and brings facts to the fore.
The Wire had published a chart sourced from WaterAid, an NGO, from their document “Out Of Order: The State of the World’s Toilets 2017.”
2/n In its report, The Wire also published a chart, clearly showing 732.2 million Indians (56% of the population) without access to toilets. pic.twitter.com/u0QoRkeZi6
— Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) November 21, 2017
The report is based on the metric ‘lack of decent toilets’ and not lack of ‘toilets’.
This report was further sourced from WASHwatch, another NGO which also uses the phrase ‘basic sanitation’ and not ‘toilets’. The data on WASHwatch is again sourced from various organisations.
And these sources, too, use the phrase ‘basic sanitation’ and not ‘toilet’.
5/n WashWatch in turn sourced this info from WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation, that also uses NOT ‘Toilet’ but the phrase ‘Without access to at least basic sanitation’. https://t.co/W8Ud8f3Y4b pic.twitter.com/9XkhQZ8VFf
— Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) November 21, 2017
Ranganathan further states that these reports are based not on actual data, but are estimated from meta surveys where “without access to at least basic sanitation” means a toilet that is NOT shared by households.
6/n According to the WHO/UNICEF report – which is the primary source –
A. This data is not actual but a trend estimate gleaned from meta surveys
B. “Without access to at least basic sanitation” means a toilet that is NOT shared by households. https://t.co/W8Ud8f3Y4b pic.twitter.com/EJ2sLBooRR— Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) November 21, 2017
So essentially, the headline that 732 million Indians don’t have toilet is not just misleading, but factually incorrect. But too late, since now, the report, and headline, have gone viral.
n/n 210 million Indians use either shared or unimproved toilets (WHO/UNICEF).
Therefore, the statement that 732 million Indians don’t have access to toilets is WRONG.
Too late. Headline is viral. “Pathetic India” is now the talking point. And this govt couldn’t care less. pic.twitter.com/yKqsiT2eqt
— Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) November 21, 2017
It is thus appalling how blatantly lies are not only being spun, but being carried forward by other media houses without basic fact checking. The propaganda industry seems to work like a well oiled machine, where one lie is carried forward seamlessly. We can only hope that The Wire and other media houses introspect as to where their journalism is leading the nation.
