After getting caught for peddling fake news about paddy procurement by the government, controversial NDTV news anchor Ravish Kumar has now apologized for spreading fake news. The controversial NDTV news anchor Ravish Kumar took to Facebook to post an apology after he admitted to making a ‘mistake’ of putting false information without verifying facts.
In his Facebook post, Ravish Kumar said that he had made a mistake in the last episode of his prime time show where he was “highlighting the distortion of data by the government”, however, the information that was put out was not complete.
“The information is incomplete and therefore it is not correct. In this event, a mistake was also committed by me in the episode of 14 January. The analysis of a tweet put out by the Railway Minister turned out to be a mistake,” said Ravish Kumar in his Facebook post.
Hilariously, while apologising for spreading fake news, Ravish Kumar says that “Godi Media”, which is essentially media that does not follow his editorial line of spreading misinformation and propaganda, should not “excited by such a mistake”. Further, he tells other journalists to challenge him on his facts. It is worthy to point out that the entire post is actually about him apologising for spreading fake news.
In his Facebook post, he further asks “Godi Media’ to “Think about the kind of misunderstanding being spread”. Further he says, “Notice has been issued on this. I’d reply but the surprising thing is I catches many mistakes and lies in my program is no answer”.
While apologising, Ravish Kumar continued to blame the government and also, claiming that he catches many such lies in his program and the government has never answered for those, and hence, he is the bigger person for responding to the notice sent to him.
It is pertinent to point out here that Ravish Kumar has a history of spreading misinformation and fake news and has in no way “caught many lies”. Of the many examples, just one would be sufficient to provide a window into his journalism. During the Delhi anti-Hindu riots, Ravish Kumar had conveniently changed the identity of Mohammad Shahrukh, who was seen threatening cops with a gun pointed towards their head, to ‘Anurag Mishra’ simple to peddle his own agenda and shield the perpetrators. That does not really seem like someone who “catches so many mistakes” with others.
How Ravish Kumar spread fake news, for which he is apologising now
On January 14, NDTV India anchor Ravish Kumar had claimed that the Modi government had given false data regarding the farm product procurement. In his show ‘Prime Time With Ravish Kumar’, the controversial Congress-era ‘journalist’ had referred to an infographic posted by minister Piyush Goyal to deliberately mislead the public by saying that the data given by the government in the graphic is wrong.
Earlier, Food and Public Distribution minister Piyush Goyal had informed that till January 10, the centre had procured 534 Lakh Metric Tonnes of paddy, compared to 423 LMT in the same period last year. Therefore, the paddy procurement has gone up by 26% till now this year.
किसान हितों के लिए PM @NarendraModi जी द्वारा किए गए प्रयासों से 10 जनवरी तक पिछले वर्ष की इसी अवधि की तुलना में 26% अधिक धान MSP मूल्य पर खरीदा गया, जिसकी मात्रा 534 LMT है।
— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) January 11, 2021
एक लाख करोड़ रुपये से भी अधिक के भुगतान से 71 लाख किसान लाभान्वित हुए।
किसान हित में MSP है, और रहेगा। pic.twitter.com/xOAaqlvem0
However, Ravish Kumar, as usual resorting to his false propaganda, had alleged that as per data available on the website of Food and Public Distribution ministry, the total paddy procurement in 2019-20 was 519 LMT, not 423 LMT, therefore the increase in the procurement is not 26% as claimed by the government. He said that either someone has made a mistake in the govt of India, or wrong numbers are being used to spread falsehood.
Ravish Kumar crops image to peddle misinformation
In fact, it was Ravish Kumar had deliberately lied to the public by cropping the image of the tweet of Piyush Goyal to put out misleading claims. The minister had clearly said that the data is for procurement up to 10 January. However, in an attempt to blame the government, Ravish Kumar used the incomplete procurement data of the income from 2019-20 to put out misinformation about public procurement.
After Ravish Kumar tried to mislead the public by putting out false data, the union government had taken a strong objection and had categorically stated that the procurement has gone up by 26% in the said period.
The government sends a letter to NDTV ‘Ethics Committee’, calls Ravish Kumar lies ‘shocking’
The ministry termed the program a ‘shocking display of poor journalism and sheer disregard of actual facts’ and had issued notice to NDTV on the 15th of January 2021, as reported exclusively by OpIndia yesterday.
The union government has taken a strong objection to the fake news peddled by Ravish Kumar, and has confirmed that the paddy procurement upto 10 January 2020 was 423 LMT. And therefore, it is correct that the procurement has gone up by 26% in the said period. The ministry termed the program a ‘shocking display of poor journalism and sheer disregard of actual facts’.
The letter sent to the NDTV Ethics committee by the Press Information Bureau’s Additional Director General has said that Ravish Kumar has done an unfair comparison of full year procurement of 2019-20 with ongoing procurement for 2020-21. It also states that Piyush Goyal’s tweet was cropped in the TV program, giving the impression that it was a malafide act.
The letter notes that at a sensitive time when farmers are protesting near Delhi, Ravish Kumar has misrepresented important facts, which misleads the farmers and incites negative sentiments in the society. The letter also said that Ravish Kumar has done an unfair comparison of full-year procurement of 2019-20 with ongoing procurement for 2020-21. It is this letter that Ravish Kumar is saying that he will respond to in the due course of time.
