Fake news on TN migrant attacks: Dainik Bhaskar publishes apology – in English

Last week, the Madras High Court told Dainik Bhaskar to issue a corrigendum on the first page of its publications for publishing “fake news” on purported attacks on migrant workers in Tamil Nadu.

The Hindi daily complied today. The corrigendum appeared on the front page of its editions – and in English. 

The corrigendum said the paper’s news report on March 2 was “not true”. “The editorial team of Dainik Bhaskar apologises to the people of Tamil Nadu and Bihar for reporting the said news. The Dainik Bhaskar always promotes true and fact based journalism, any inconvenience caused to the court and people of Tamil Nadu and Bihar is regretted.”

It ended saying the corrigendum was issued as per the order of the high court. 

Dainik Bhaskar had posted a video on March 2 on Twitter stating that the “Taliban in Tamil Nadu punishing Bihari labourers for speaking in Hindi”. It also reported that “more than 15” Bihari migrant workers in Tamil Nadu have been “murdered”.

This was untrue. Two days later, the Tamil Nadu police booked Dainik Bhaskar and others for “spreading false news”.

As the high court said, “Media and press need to adopt their professional ethics and take care of public interest instead of concentrating on sensational news alone for promoting their own commercial interest.”

Newslaundry had dissected rumours about migrant workers being attacked in Tamil Nadu being propagated as “news” by the mainstream media. Read all about it here and here.