Since the last few days, its been all over the news how a 27 yr old boy named Arun P.V, fooled India into believing he got a juicy posting with NASA and has been admitted into MIT as a research fellow under Dr.Barbara Liskov. It started with the national media and was picked by the international media including BBC and even Spanish publications. That takes me back to the start of 2013, when vernacular media in Kerala started celebrating Arun, followed by Indias English media. He was the darling of the news hungry publications who even covered his visit to Sabarimala temple like a celebrity. I dont want to talk more about Arun , who is nothing but a plain idiot. But I do have a word or two to say on the media. I was a Journalism student back in 2003. The first lesson they taught me was when in doubt, leave it out. Every claim you make in your report should be based on evidence or a claim you can verify. When this being the international norm for scribes, how did the state and national media fall for the hoax hook line & sinker en-bloc?? What were the editors doing? Didnt atleast one publication..one editor think that the claim should be verified..when it cud have been so easily done. SHAME ON YOU..you rumor mongers!! This incident is a BIG slap on your ugly faces. More interesting was how the medias reacted when it was finally uncovered as a hoax by Netizen Police. I didnt see even one publication apologizing to the readers for publishing news without verifying, except Telegraph in Calcutta. Atleast Telegraph had the balls to admit they made a mistake. Asianet, Mathrubhumi, Malayala Manorama, Reporter, Kaumudi, Indiavision, Surya...Strategic silence eh? businessinsider/man-tricked-india-nasa
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 12:37:46 +0000
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