Fact Check: Is Ministry of Information and Broadcasting mulling action against `fake journalists'?
Several posts claiming that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting will take action against ‘fake journalists’, are viral on social media
By Tejal Sinha Published on 24 Jun 2021 4:40 AM GMT
Hyderabad: Several posts claiming that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting will take action against 'fake journalists', are viral on social media
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The viral posts include a screenshot of news clipping of a press conference by the minister of Information and broadcasting Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore. According to the news clipping, the Ministry would take action against fake journalists, file FIRs, and jail them if required.
The minister also said that only those newspapers registered under Registrar of Newspapers for India and TV/Radio channels registered under the IB Ministry could recruit a journalist/reporter, the report said.
Fact Check
The claim is False.
The viral news clipping had a mention of 'Ratangarh Times'. NewsMeter performed a keyword search and found the online page of Ratangarh Times, a media organization in Madhya Pradesh on Facebook.
The online page was uploaded on the Facebook page on June 16, 2021, which had the news that has been going viral.
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However, we did not find any report in the mainstream media. No such information has been published on the official website of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
The news clipping mentions Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore as the Minister of Information and Broadcasting. However, the Minister of Information and Broadcasting is not Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore but Prakash Javadekar.
Rajyavardhan is an Indian politician, Olympic medalist, and retired Indian Army officer. Rathore is a Member of Parliament in the 17th Lok Sabha representing Jaipur Rural seat. He served as the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in the Government of India till May 2019. In November 2014, was made the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting. He was appointed as a cabinet minister with independent charge for the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in 2017.
The viral claim has also been debunked by Press Information Bureau (PIB) Fact Check. PIB tweeted that the widespread claim is False. It also reiterated that the former Central Minister for Information and Broadcasting Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore has not claimed such action in any of his statements.
Evidently, the viral claim is False. Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore is neither minister for Information and Broadcasting nor has he given any statement on 'fake journalists'.
