Economic Affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das (L) and RBI chief Urjit Patel (PIB)There is an epidemic of fake news these days. The mainstream media is a chief complicit in pushing unverifiable news items. In a race to be first rather than right, level-headed journalism is the casualty.
One major media house reported recently that the government is planning to bring back Rs 1,000 currency denomination after it was discontinued post the announcement of demonetisation in November. This ‘news’ spread fast which forced Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das to issue a clarification that no such proposal is in the pipeline. Rather, the government is focusing on producing and supplying Rs 500 and lower denomination notes.
The fake news problem is getting worse by the day. Fake news originating in the mainstream media and get converted to whatsapp messages which go viral in no time. And vice versa.
Today, former Chief Election Commissioner, Dr. SY Quereshi posted this outrageous tweet full of disinformation. Here’s the real story behind this.
The question arises if the former chief commissioner of Election Commission can be duped into believing such outlandish information, what kind of effect such fake information have on an average voter?
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