Authors
A self-taught social media maverick, Saurabh realised the power of social media early on and began following and analysing false narratives and ‘fake news’ even before he entered the field of fact-checking professionally. He is fascinated with the visual medium, technology and politics, and at Newschecker, where he leads social media strategy, he is a jack of all trades. With a burning desire to uncover the truth behind events that capture people's minds and make sense of the facts in the noisy world of social media, he fact checks misinformation in Hindi and English at Newschecker.
Claim
RBI has issued a video of its office.
Verification
Media and news outlets across the world are infamous for misreporting on sensitive issues, in many of our fact-checks we have debunked media and news outlets. In yet another incident of misreporting on Covid-19 which is as serious an issue that it has been declared a pandemic by the WHO, media outlet Aaj Tak, that itself fact-checks and is also a subsidiary of TV Today Network that owns the fact-checking and news outlet India Today, posted a video on their Twitter handle with the claim that the said video is released by the Reserve Bank of India.
इस मुश्किल वक्त में भी बैंक कर्मचारी अपनी ड्यूटी में तत्पर हैं, #RBI ने जारी किया है वीडियो CoronaVirusOutbreak #21daylockdown#LunchBreak pic.twitter.com/nURWFQNZE3
— आज तक (@aajtak) March 25, 2020
Aaj Tak has deleted the video, however, an archived version of the aforementioned tweet can be viewed here.
The same video was also amplified in a show run by the outlet namely ‘Dangal’.
In the video by the outlet on Twitter, when the alleged visuals of the RBI office are playing, the anchor says that the RBI has released this video to show how their employees are fighting the novel coronavirus by cooperating with the Reserve Bank. The anchor further explains the visuals and says, “We are showing this footage to you so you know that these RBI officials do not leave and working hard to serve you better.”
As we began fact-checking the video, we found a tweet made by Yogesh Dayal who is the Chief General Manager of RBI’s department of communication. Mr. Dayal’s tweet not just rubbishes the claim made by the media outlet but also appeals to the outlet to verify the facts before reporting. His tweet reads, “#RBI ने नहीं जारी किया है यह या कोई भी वीडियो। कृपया upload करने से पहले इसकी सत्यता की जांच करें। Be responsible in reporting and telecasting.”
#RBI ने नहीं जारी किया है यह या कोई भी वीडियो। कृपया upload करने से पहले इसकी सत्यता की जांच करें। Be responsible in reporting and telecasting.
— Yogesh Dayal (@YogeshDayal17) March 26, 2020
We also found a tweet made by a Twitter user namely ‘Tarun Kumar Das’ who is the Chief Manager of the Punjab National Bank’s Lucknow-based Vidhan Sabha Marg branch. Mr. Das has tagged Aaj Tak’s journalist Rohit Sardana who hosts the show ‘Dangal’ for the outlet and has informed him of the video belonging to PNB’s office and not of RBI’s.
@sardanarohit The video of bank employees shown in your program DANGAL today is of PNB not RBI.
— Tarun Kumar Das (@Tarun_Das) March 25, 2020
Based on the testimony of Yogesh Dayal who is a CGM of RBI’s communication department and Tarun Kumar Das who is a branch manager of Punjab National Bank, we reached the conclusion that the video shared by the outlet is ‘Misleading’.
Sources
- Source Verification
Result: Misleading
Authors
A self-taught social media maverick, Saurabh realised the power of social media early on and began following and analysing false narratives and ‘fake news’ even before he entered the field of fact-checking professionally. He is fascinated with the visual medium, technology and politics, and at Newschecker, where he leads social media strategy, he is a jack of all trades. With a burning desire to uncover the truth behind events that capture people's minds and make sense of the facts in the noisy world of social media, he fact checks misinformation in Hindi and English at Newschecker.
