CLAIM
Amid heightened tensions in Jammu and Kashmir, news that animal slaughter has been banned in the Valley has been doing the rounds on social media. An alleged screenshot of the TV news channel Mirror Now flashing the news is being circulated on Twitter.
Activist Shehla Rashid also tweeted out the screenshot saying, “Apparently, you can slaughter civilians in Kashmir now!” The tweet was later taken down.
Two screenshots reading the same news have been shared: “NO ONE CAN SLAUGHTER ANIMAL NOW” reads one band, and the second band reads “BAN IMPOSED ON SACRIFICING ANIMAL IN KASHMIR”.
This comes right before the occasion of Eid on 12 August, while the Valley continues to face communication blackout and heavy security restrictions after Centre's move to effectively revoke Article 370.
WHAT IS THE TRUTH?
The screenshots reading the news have been altered. On taking a closer look at the screenshot, one can see that the news ticker in the Mirror Now screenshot is missing which is not the usual pattern of the news channel.
Secondly, the grammatical structure of the sentence, ‘No One Can Slaughter Animal Now’, is incorrect.
Third, a small box near the channel’s logo reads ‘Subscribe Now’. However, the regular news screen doesn’t have an element like that.
SAME CHANNEL, ANOTHER TEMPLATE
While there are glaring inconsistencies in the first template itself, there is another graphic template which is being circulated on social media which also reads the same news.
While the sentence structure is wrong even in this one, it goes on to add a mug (photograph) of one of their reporters to add authenticity to their news. According to the flashing graphic a reporter called ‘Pramod Madhav’ reported on this story.
But on looking on the internet, we found out that the same reporter has been reporting on the flood situation in Kerala for the last few days.
FAYE D’ SOUZA ISSUES CLARIFICATION
Hours after the news credited to Mirror Now went viral, Faye DSouza, the editor of the news channel, issued a tweet calling it false.
In her tweet, Faye said “This is a fake screen. FALSE . Photoshopped
1. The bottom ticker is missing
2. The font is not the one used by the channel
3. This is not a story carried by @MirrorNow”
Shehla Rashid also tweeted saying that the screenshot has been photoshopped and is fake.
“Warning: There are photoshopped images of a @MirrorNow screen being circulated with the caption that animal slaughter has been banned in Kashmir. I checked with Mirror Now. They deny having run the story. Looks like a trap by the ruling party to discredit Kashmiris.”
So far no news of ban on animal slaughter in the valley has been reported.
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