On November 11, a photograph of journalist Nidhi Razdan started to make rounds on social media platforms with claims that it was clicked during a lecture in Harvard. In a WhatsApp forward, the text with the image read, “Bhakto Yeh Dekho (see this)! You guys kept crying, but here is Nidhi from NDTV teaching at Harvard. This is honest journalism. Another lie of IT Cell exposed.”
The same image was shared by several Twitter users. While some users mocked Nidhi for teaching ‘ethics in journalism’ (The topic was written on the projector screen in the background), the others questioned if the claims that this photograph was clicked in Harvard.
Author Shefali Vaidya wrote, “LMAO, there is a sixth one also. A tenure track position at the Harvard University Department Of Imaginary Courses!” while mocking Nidhi over the Harvard fiasco where she was allegedly duped by a scammer into believing that she got a job as a lecturer at Harvard University. It was later found that for months she was talking to a scammer and all the communication she had done with an alleged Harvard recruitment officer were fake.
But seriously? WHO are unfortunate students who have @Nidhi lecturing them on ‘ethics’? pic.twitter.com/1u2Rf0kRkl
— Shefali Vaidya. 🇮🇳 (@ShefVaidya) November 11, 2021
In a follow-up tweet, Shefali showed concern towards the students and said, “But seriously? WHO are unfortunate students who have Nidhi lecturing them on ‘ethics’?”
Twitter user @coolfunnyshirt wrote, “NDTV journalist talking about ethics of journalism is like ISIS/Taliban talking about human rights.”
NDTV journalist talking about ethics of journalism is like ISIS/Taliban talking about human rights. pic.twitter.com/z9Li8fEqWj
— Keh Ke Peheno (@coolfunnytshirt) November 11, 2021
Netizen Rishi Bagree played with words and wrote, “Hard words”.
Hard words 🔥😂🙏 pic.twitter.com/pGkNJGMmu0
— Rishi Bagree (@rishibagree) November 11, 2021
Another user total_woke_ said, “Nidhi Razdan doing stand up comedy and it’s really funny.”
Nidhi Razdan doing stand up comedy and it’s really funny 😂 pic.twitter.com/UpAFO9yD2q
— Eminent Intellectual (@total_woke_) November 11, 2021
OpIndia decided to dig into the matter and check if the photograph was real and, if it was real, where it was clicked. We found that the image that was being shared on social media is a screenshot from a short 49-second video that Kautilya School of Public Policy had uploaded on October 31.
According to the institute’s YouTube channel, Nidhi, who is a visiting faculty of the Kautilya School of Public Policy, was giving a lecture on the role of media in public policy. The description of the video read, “‘Without a truly independent media, true democracy is unattainable.’ Visiting faculty Nidhi Razdan, in conversation with our MPP students on the role of #media in #publicpolicy.”
In the video, Nidhi was heard saying, “These are the very basic principles by which journalism is supposed to be guided. Whether it is actually happening or not is another story.”
Verdict: The photograph of Nidhi teaching ‘ethics in journalism’ is NOT from Harvard but from a lecture that she gave at Kautilya School of Public Policy, where she is a visiting faculty. The claims that are being made on social media and WhatsApp are FALSE.
Nidhi Razdan and Harvad
The fake message had claimed that Nidhi Razdan is teaching at Harvard because the NDTV journalist was duped by scamsters who had offered her a fake job at the prestigious university. In June 2020, she had announced on Twitter that she is quitting NDTV to join Harvard as an Associate Professor. But six months later, in January this year, she informed that she was a victim of a phishing attack, and Harvard University never offered her a position as an associate professor in journalism.
It is notable that even though the viral message said that another lie of IT cell exposed, the fact is Nidhi Razdan had herself revealed that the job offer she had received from Harvard was fake. Although she is no longer with NDTV, she is working as Director of Strategic Programmes and Outreach at Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management (GITAM). Apart from that, she is also a visiting faculty at Kautilya School of Public Policy. Therefore, even though she is not working at Harvard, she is working in the fields of academics, and she must be conducting lectures at both the institutions regularly.
