The recent stunt pulled by actress Poonam Pandey has acted as a wake up alarm to all media houses that not everything that is on social media is true. Even when information is shared directly by the individuals involved, it is absolutely essential to verify and delve into the primary source before accepting it as true. Instead of blindly endorsing such content, one should prioritise cross-checking and authenticating the information before disseminating it to your audience, even if it originates from the individual involved.
To give you a background, actress and model Poonam Pandey’s social media handle on February 2 put up a post saying that the actress died of cervical cancer which coincidently came a day after centre announced cervical cancer vaccines for girls aged between 9-14. This itself would have come across red flags.
If anyone would have actually tried to understand the situation, they would have easily found out that the actress had posted a video of herself on her social media handle, where she looked okay.
Anyone who have been suffering from cervical cancer and is on their deathbed, wouldn’t be able to pose for the camera. I mean, duh!
But instead of cross-verifying it, every national and regional media channels took the information on face value and started spreading the news, only to know the next day that it was a hoax to spread awareness about the cancer itself.
Distasteful as it maybe, the stunt using disinformation in ‘public awareness campaigns’ has impacted the audience.
Maybe that was the goal from the beginning.
However, major national media outlets, such as Times of India and Hindustan Times fell prey to the misinformation, unquestioningly sharing the news without verification.
Like I said before, this stunt has acted as a wakeup call not to take news off from social media without cross-verifying it.
But for regional media outlets like GPlus which cover news of national importance, and because of the infrastructural issues, don’t have many primary sources placed at national locations like Delhi or Mumbai and sometimes follow national prominent publications like Times of India or Hindustan Times.
Such was the case in Poonam Pandey too, where GPlus became one of those who covered the death of the actress quoting national media reports.
In such scenarios, what are the regional media outlets supposed to do?
In a world dominated by social media, where influencers strive to capture attention, a recent incident involving Poonam Pandey has raised critical questions about the boundaries of celebrity culture and building sensationalist awareness on digital.
As society navigates this complex terrain, it becomes imperative for both influencers and media outlets to tread cautiously, prioritising authenticity and responsibility over sensationalism.
(All views are the opinion of the author)
