Alt News
 | |
| Available in |
|
|---|---|
| Founded | 2017 |
| Headquarters | , India |
| Owner | Pravda Media Foundation[1] |
| Founder(s) |
|
| Products | Web portal |
| URL | www |
| Current status | Active |
Alt Newsis an Indian non-profitfact checking websitefounded and run by former software engineer Pratik Sinha andMohammed Zubair.[2][3]It was launched on 9 February 2017 to combatfake news.Alt News was a signatory partner of theInternational Fact-Checking Networkuntil April 2020.[4][9]
History
Alt News was founded inAhmedabad[10]by Pratik Sinha, a former software engineer and son ofMukul Sinha,who was a lawyer and the founder-president ofJan Sangharsh Manch.[11][12]Pratik Sinha became interested in exposing fake news when he began working with his activist parents in India. He had followed the rise of fake news as early as 2013 but was moved to start the website after realizing the impact of social media in 2016, when fourDalitboys were flogged for skinning a dead cow inUna, Gujarat.He quit freelancing as a software engineer in 2016 and founded Alt News the next year.[10]
Sinha has allegedaly receivedthreats to his lifefrom fugitive underworld donRavi Pujari,demanding that he stop producing content.[13][14]
In July 2022, co-founder Zubair was arrested byDelhi Policefor allegedly "hurting religious sentiments".[15]The charges underIPC section 295Aand section 67 of the IT Act were pressed for a satirical tweet he made in 2018, in which he shared an unedited screenshot from a 1983 Indian comedy filmKissi Se Na KehnabyHrishikesh Mukherjee.[16]The tweet was complained to be disregarding of Hindu sentiments by an anonymous Twitter user. Journalist bodies, human rights organizations, and the political opposition perceived the arrest as a revenge against his role in the2022 BJP Muhammad remarks controversyand Alt News' work of fighting disinformation in the society, while noting of diminishing press freedom in Modi's India.[17]
Process
Alt News works by monitoring misinformation, primarily identifying that are sufficientlyviral.They use CrowdTangle, a Facebook tool that publishers use to track how content spreads across the internet, for monitoring Facebook pages that have put out misinformation at some point in the past and are on either side of the ideological spectrum. They useTweetDeck,a Twitter management tool to similarly monitor content on Twitter posted by people who have been known to tweet misinformation frequently. They also monitor multipleWhatsAppgroups that they have been able to infiltrate and also receive content from users who alert them on social media andWhatsApp.[18]
Popular work
Alt News identified the individuals running theHinduright-wing website DainikBharat.org.[19]He also showed that a video allegedly depicting a Marwari girl married to a Muslim man being burnt to death for not wearing aburqahwasGuatemalanin origin.[3][20][21][22]According to theBBC,a report by Alt News in June 2017 demonstrating that theIndian Home Ministryhad used a picture of the Spanish–Moroccan border to claim it had installed floodlights on India's borders led to the ministry facing online mockery.[21][22]Sinha has compiled a list of more than 40 of what he describes as fake news sources, most of which he says supportright wingviews.[23]
The Alt News team wrote a book titledIndia Misinformed: The True Story[24]published byHarperCollinswhich was released in March 2019.[25]The book was "pre-endorsed" byArundhati Roy.[26]In 2017, Sinha was invited to theGoogle NewsLabAsia-Pacific Summit to discuss potential solutions tofake news.[3]
References
- ^"Top 7 Platforms That Are Busting Fake News On Social Media".Analytics India.22 January 2018.Retrieved10 February2018.
- ^Manish, Sai (8 April 2018)."Busting fake news: Who funds whom?".Business Standard.Retrieved3 March2020– viaRediff.com.
- ^abcSengupta, Saurya (1 July 2017)."On the origin of specious news".The Hindu.Retrieved7 November2017.
- ^"Pravda Media Foundation Profile".International Fact-Checking Network,Poynter.
- ^Alawadhi, Neha (4 May 2020)."WhatsApp launches chatbot to bust fake news, allies with global group".Business Standard India.Retrieved25 August2020.
- ^Tiwari, Ayush."The embarrassment that is PIB Fact Check: Who fact-checks this 'fact checker'?".Newslaundry.Retrieved25 August2020.
- ^"A fact-checker's life: Exposing fake news and communalism, surviving social boycott".Moneycontrol.Retrieved25 August2020.
- ^Mantas, Harrison (20 May 2020)."Why would Indian police issue and then withdraw a manual on misinformation? Political divides could be the answer".Poynter Institute.
- ^[5][6][7][8]
- ^ab"To stop misinformation, ask questions: Interview with Alt News founder Pratik Sinha".The News Minute.22 April 2019.
- ^Sen, Shreeja (12 May 2014)."Gujarat riots activist Mukul Sinha dies at 63".livemint.com.Retrieved7 February2018.
- ^Janmohamed, Zahir."Mukul Sinha, self-effacing Modi opponent and labour organiser who disliked being called a leader".scroll.in.Retrieved7 February2018.
- ^"News website owner gets threat call from 'gangster'".The Indian Express.10 March 2017.Retrieved7 November2017.
- ^"Mukul Sinha's son gets threat call from 'Pujari'".The Times of India.Retrieved9 November2017.
- ^"Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair arrested for 'hurting religious sentiments'".Hindustan Times.27 June 2022.Retrieved2 July2022.
- ^"Kissi Se Na Kehna! Mohammed Zubair Arrested for Tweeting Photo from 1983 Hindi Film".The Wire.28 June 2022.Retrieved8 July2022.
- ^See links below
- Yasir, Sameer (28 June 2022)."Arrest of Journalist in India Adds to Press Freedom Concerns".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved29 June2022.
- Welle (http://www.dw.com), Deutsche."India: Arrest of Muslim fact-checker raises concerns over press freedom | DW | 28.06.2022".DW.COM.Retrieved29 June2022.
- "Delhi police arrest Muslim journalist Mohammed Zubair over tweet from 2018".the Guardian.28 June 2022.Retrieved29 June2022.
- "Arrest of Indian Muslim journalist sparks widespread outrage".Washington Post.ISSN0190-8286.Retrieved29 June2022.
- "Indian journalist arrested over Twitter post".Financial Times.28 June 2022.Retrieved29 June2022.
- ^"Alt News co-founder Pratik Sinha on the fake-news ecosystem in India".The Caravan.
- ^"Inside the world of Hindu right wing fake news website DainikBharat.org".Hindustan Times.13 June 2017.Retrieved7 November2017.
- ^Bhuyan, Anoo."What the Indian Media Can Learn From the Global War on Fake News".thewire.in.Retrieved7 November2017.
- ^ab"India ministry mocked for 'appropriating' Spain border".BBC News.15 June 2017.Retrieved7 November2017.
- ^abImran Ahmed Siddiqui (15 June 2017)."Border lights illuminate a Moroccan mockery".The Telegraph.Archived fromthe originalon 7 November 2017.Retrieved7 November2017.
- ^"How Alt News is trying to take on the fake news ecosystem in India".Firstpost.4 June 2017.Retrieved7 November2017.
- ^Sinha, P; Shaikh, S; Sidharth, A (2019).India Misinformed: The True Story.HarperCollins.ISBN978-93-5302-838-1.OCLC1274781508.
- ^"Upcoming book to lay bare propaganda of misinformation and hoaxes".The Times of India.IANS. 25 February 2019.Retrieved13 March2019.
- ^"Upcoming book to lay bare propaganda of misinformation and hoaxes".Outlook India.22 February 2019.Retrieved13 March2019.