No, Viral Message Hailing PM Modi Was Not Drafted by NYT Editor

Neither is the text authentic, nor does anybody by the name of Joseph Hope work with the New York Times.

A viral piece of text praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, purportedly written by one Joseph Hope – who is being referred to as the editor-in-chief of the New York Times – is doing the rounds on social media.

However, a cursory glance at the text reveals several grammatical errors, very unlike The New York Times, and a visit to the publication’s website suggests that there is no person named Joseph Hope who writes for them, let alone him being their editor-in-chief.

CLAIM

The aforementioned text is massively viral on Facebook and Twitter. We found a Twitter thread where a user had shared the entire text. According to the viral message, one Joseph Hope, supposedly the editor-in-chief of New York Times had made the following points in his article:

• Narendra Modi’s aim is to make India a better country and if not stopped, India will become the most powerful nation in the world.
• Modi is a dangerous patriot and is using other countries as per India’s interests. He has managed to severe the ties of United States with Pakistan and Afghanistan.
• He has shattered China’s dream of becoming a superpower.

The purported article then goes on to praise PM Modi for the abrogation of Article 370 and for his efforts to eradicate the influence of China on other South Asian nations. Not just this, the article also claims that the NYT editor hailed Modi as one of the best global leaders of this day and age.

You can read the full text here.

WHAT WE FOUND

A cursory glance at the said article raised several red flags. First, there were multiple grammatical errors, further nobody had shared a link of the original report by New York Times along with the viral text.

It is highly unlikely that a report by the editor-in-chief of the New York Times will be ridden with grammar and format inaccuracies. We identified some of them, which have been highlighted in the illustration below.

Next, we copy-pasted a part of the viral text on Google to find the original New York Times article which the text is being claimed to have been lifted from. This, however, didn’t throw up any significant results.

Further, we checked the publication’s topic page for Prime Minister Modi but found no such article.

We also went to Our People — the section of the website which carries names and images of all employees of the publication. However, there is no “Joseph Hope” on that list.

The publication’s current Executive Editor is Dean Baquet and there is no position listed as editor-in-chief.

Further, Danielle Rhoades, Vice President (Communications) at the New York Times told The Quint in a reply to an email query that the editor of publication is Dean Baquet and he has not said or written anything resembling the viral text. He also added that no one named Joseph Hope works for them.

Clearly, a fictitious piece of text on Prime Minister Narendra Modi is being shared to claim that the editor-in-chief of New York Times has written an article hailing the Indian prime minister.

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