Authors
Vaibhav is a part of Newschecker’s English team, where he spots and debunks all kinds of misinformation, making the rounds on the internet. A Journalism graduate from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, he holds an M.A degree in Philosophy and an M.Phil from Delhi University.
Claim
A newspaper clipping claiming to be published by the German Times claims that a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Delhi which was supposed to carry Bhagwant Mann was delayed because the Punjab CM, who was too drunk, had to be deboarded.
Fact
We started by analysing the article and found a disclaimer under the picture of Bhagwant Mann that claimed that “This article is for satire @BeingBHK”.
We then located the handle @BeingBHK on Twitter, whose bio reads “Threads, Memes, Cartoons, Satire”. Newschecker also found several tweets made by the user which indicated that the said article was his handiwork.
We further noted that the alleged report mentions ‘India Narrative”. On looking up the website, we found an article titled “Was Punjab Chief Minister deplaned in Frankfurt from Delhi-bound Lufthansa flight?”. We noticed that except for the quote by Chander Suta Dogra, AAP director of media communications, the ‘report’ on The German Times was an exact reproduction of the India Narrative article.
Newschecker further checked the website of The German Times and found that the website has published no such report. On reaching out to The German Times, Afroze Jahan from Newschecker Bangladesh was informed that the organisation last published a printed copy of the newspaper 2 years ago, and that they now run an online edition. They also said that they had no reporter by the name of Daniel Schutz and that they published no such story.
Newschecker also found a clarification by the official account of Lufthansa airlines, in response to users on Twitter, wherein the airlines said that the Frankfurt-Delhi flight departed later than planned due to a delay in inbound flight and an aircraft change. However we were unable to independently verify if Bhagwant Mann was indeed deplaned for being drunk and unfit to travel.
The archived version of the tweet is available here.
Result: Satire
Our Sources
Twitter account of BeingBHK
Telephonic conversation with The German Times
Report by India Narrative on 18th September, 2022
Tweet by Lufthansa Airlines on 19th September, 2022
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Authors
Vaibhav is a part of Newschecker’s English team, where he spots and debunks all kinds of misinformation, making the rounds on the internet. A Journalism graduate from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, he holds an M.A degree in Philosophy and an M.Phil from Delhi University.
