Authors
A day after India’s prime minister Narendra Modi’s almost emotional moment during an interaction with doctors, posts with a crocodile’s image allegedly on the New York Times front page with the title, “India’s PM cried” has gone viral.
The image claims to show the New York Times International Edition published on 21 May 2021. The front centre of the page includes an image of a crocodile with the title “India’s PM cried” with two other stories printed on either side of it.
One Twitter user shared this image with the caption, “The New York Times front Headline. India’s PM Cried. #CrocodileTears #ModiStopCrying_RepealLaws #CrocodileTears”
Other users tweeted this image as well. You can view them here and here.
On 21 May, Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with doctors, paramedical staff and other frontline health workers of Varanasi via video conferencing amid India’s second COVID-19 wave.
Prashant Bhushan tweeted about the same.
Also Read: Queen Elizabeth Did Not Call PM Modi “A Good Boy” For Supplying COVID-19 Vaccines To The UK
Fact Check / Verification
We looked up at the New York Times International Edition for 21 May 2021 on NYT’s official website. We found that not only is the lead story on the front page different, there is no story on PM Modi in this edition.
On comparing both images, we observed the caption above the lead image in the viral post (Left) is designed differently than the original image (Right) from NYT International Edition on 21 May.
In the original NYT edition, the lead image is captioned, “There is no alternative. Solar energy is a blessing from God.”
Right below the lead image is a story titled, “Syria’s surprising solar boom.” On either side is one story each titled, “The bonds with Israel are shaking” and “What Apple swallows to get ahead in China.” All these three stories can be seen in the viral image as well.
Additionally, we found the viral image posted by the parody account The Daily New York Times on 21 May.
Hours later the account clarified that “this is Satire. Don’t take it seriously,” in a reply to the viral image.
Also Read: Fake Letter From Modi To Adityanath For Contribution To Hindu Rashtra Surfaces Online
Conclusion
Our research makes it clear that the image of a crocodile with the title “India’s PM cried” was not published in the original NYT International Edition on 21 May. The viral image was posted by the parody Twitter account The Daily New York Times.
Result: Satire
Our Sources
New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/issue/todayspaper/2021/05/21/todays-new-york-times#thefrontpage
Parody Twitter account The Daily New York Times:
https://twitter.com/NewYokNewz/status/1395941899593129989
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