New controversy over freedom of the press in India. The country’s main news agency, Asian News International (ANI), is accused of disinformation by a report by the NGO EU DisinfoLab. In particular, she would have summoned false experts in her articles critical of China or Pakistan. The agency denied by press release this Saturday, February 25, 2023.
With our correspondent in Bangalore, Como Bastin
It is a private and officially independent news agency, frequently taken over by many Indian media. However, she is reputed to be close to the government of Narendra Modi, whose news she covers in detail, and has since Friday faced direct accusations of manipulation of the info.
EU DisinfoLab relies on a long investigative work called “Bad Sources”. The NGO claims that the ANI agency summons imaginary, dead or unreachable specialists or “think tanks” to support information directed towards India’s great rivals, China and Pakistan.
On more than a hundred occasions, ANI would have relied on reports and conferences from IFFRAS, a Canadian research center that has been dissolved since 2014. Or the CPFA, a French organization that does exist, but whose cited experts cannot be found. Which, says EU DisinfoLab, violates the journalistic principles of the Munich Charter.
This Saturday, ANI called the NGO’s accusations defamatory. ” We will continue to cover the atrocities taking place in China and Pakistan “retorted the agency in a long press release.
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