The screenshot of old video from Nicaragua falsely used to insinuate that the security forces acted in self-defense at Oting on December 4. (Screenshot)
Morung Express News
Dimapur | December 7
Old video from Nicaragua falsely used to insinuate that the security forces acted in self-defense; an unrelated fire in Tuensang as civilian burning down shops; video of coal miners from villages as those killed in Oting incident etc filled various social media platforms as unrelated viral videos and unverified news had field day in the whirlwind of events aftermath the Oting December 4 incident.
In the backdrop of the tragic incident, individual users on various social media platforms as well as mainstream media, either fall prey or resorted to such actions.
Old video as ‘Indian army shot civilians in Nagaland in self-defense’
One such video was posted on Twitter by one AK Naithani, self-described as “former defence officer and presently Life Coach” in profile info, with the caption, “How does one react to such provocation? Notice the restraint shown by the armed soldiers ...... *NOT TRIGGER HAPPY!* ...._may draw your own conclusion.” (sic)
When asked by another user whether the video is ‘confirmed to be from Nagaland,’ he replied: “I have no reason to believe it not being so. The pity is that we have no hesitation in doubting the integrity of our forces.”
At the time of filing the report at around 9.55 PM on December 7, the ‘unrelated’ video has been viewed over 28.6 thousand times, with 180 re-tweets.
The same video was shared by another user with the profile name, MJ Augustine Vinod, described in his bio as “Group Captain (retd)” and an “IIT, IIM, CAW, M Phil, PhD on SS&IR” boldly declaring, “Remember India Soldiers don’t fire unless attacked upon, even then they warn first See this video, you will know #NagalandFiring”(sic).
The video, however, was no longer available after it was fact-checked by others, but not before 15.5 thousand views and 605 retweets.
Not only individual users, Krishna Mohan Sharma, reportedly a Journalist with Sansand TV, according to his profile info and Ex- Bureau Chief of Aaj Tak and Ex-Political Editor, shared the video with the caption, “Nagaland incident with 21 Para (Special forces) Batalian............ See how incident was provoked...?? #HaveFaith #NagaChaitanya #Nagaland #NagalandAmbush #NagalandViolence #Nagasaki #nagatoro.” (sic)
Meanwhile, earlier during the day, the fact checking website Alt News flagged the video as “2018 video from Nicaragua shows army men shooting on the ground during a clash with villagers.”
“The video has been falsely linked to the killing of civilians in Nagaland, to portray the Indian army shot in self-defence,” it updated on Twitter while sharing its report.
According to the website, several requests were received to fact-check the claim on the video on its WhatsApp helpline number. “Alt News performed a reverse image search of the video’s keyframes and found that it was aired in 2018 by Nicaragua-based news outlet Noticias Caracol TV,” it added.
As per the report, the incident took place at Hacienda Miraflores, located in the rural area of Corinto in the province of Chinandega, it informed.
“Columbia-based media outlets Movimiento MAIS and Pulzo reported on the incident. MAIS had also uploaded the viral video in 2018 and stated that the incident took place at Corinto,” Alt News added.
Sharing the original link in the report, Alt News concluded that “a video from Nicaragua was shared to justify the death of 15 civilians killed by the Indian army in Nagaland.” (https://www.altnews.in/old-video-from-nicaragua-falsely-viral-as-indian-army-shot-civilians-in-nagaland-in-self-defense/?utm_source=website&utm_medium=social-media&utm_campaign=newpost)
Meanwhile, not only Twitter users but mainstream news media did not escape from misreporting.
Tuensang Police, as per its Twitter feeds, spent most part of December 6 correcting ‘misreporting’ by mainstream national news media.
Earlier during the day, after a video about a fire incident in Tuensang was circulated as burning down of shops in related with Mon incident. It was later clarified by the police as fire due to short circuit on December 4.
However, it did not stop news18.com, from reporting that “the civilian groups attack incident spread to Tuensang district from Mon. A group of civilian brunt down few shops in the Tuensang town; but fire services of Tuensang managed to control the situation after an hour.”
The report was yet to be corrected on December 7 evening despite the Tuensang Police flagging the report “Totally misleading news" and pointing out to news18.com by tagging their Twitter handle.
Later, sharing a news capsule by Economic Times, the District police highlighted that “Some Footage shown in this video are from Tuensang District (fire broke out due to suspected short circuit).” “News regarding volatile situation in Tuensang district is totally baseless,” it added.
It further informed that a misleading information regarding curfew in Tuensang by Times Network was shared by Mirror Now, noting “Situation peaceful in Tuensang district."
Unrelated video of coal miners
Meanwhile, a video of coal miners singing and using shovels as instruments claiming those killed in the Oting incident was circulated widely on various social media platforms.
Notable among them was by General Secretary NPCC, GK Zhimomi who shared the video with the caption: “The night prior to getting killed in #NagalandFiring, coal miners singing almost like their own farewell song. Heart wrenching Broken heart.” (sic).
While the video was proven unrelated to miners from Oting and those in the video are still alive and residence of another village, Wetting village, Mon, it was still widely shared by many users, and still available in Zhimomi’s feed.
In addition, photos from a previous research study were widely shared as victims of the Oting firing on early part of December 6. The fire incident in Tuensang was also first shared by users in Nagaland as related to Mon incidents.
