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Satire Goes Viral As AP Reporter Forgot Removing Hamas Headband Before Going Live
Writer: Yusha Rahman
Yusha, an engineer turned journalist with a core interest in sensible journalism. Since the time she worked in an MNC, she saw how fake news was rife to malign images of communities, leaders, etc. This encouraged her to give up her career in MNC and passionately work towards curbing fake news and propaganda.
Others/World, 25 May 2021 10:17 AM GMT
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As the founding editor, Bharat had been heading the newsroom during the formation years of the organization and worked towards editorial policies, conceptualizing and designing campaign strategies and collaborations. He believes that through the use of digital media, one could engage the millennial's in rational conversations about pertinent social issues, provoking them to think and bring a behavioral change accordingly.
Creatives : Yusha Rahman
Yusha, an engineer turned journalist with a core interest in sensible journalism. Since the time she worked in an MNC, she saw how fake news was rife to malign images of communities, leaders, etc. This encouraged her to give up her career in MNC and passionately work towards curbing fake news and propaganda.
Netizens are sharing a screenshot of a satire by BabylonBee as an original news article which claims a reporter of the Associated Press forgot to remove Hamas headband before going live.
Many social media users are sharing a screenshot of a report with the title "OOPS! AP reporter forgot to remove Hamas headband before going LIVE". The screenshot has a photo of a press person with a headband that has text written on it.
The post is viral in the backdrop of the recent Israel-Palestine conflict. On May 15, 2021, Israel bombed the Al Jalaa tower in Gaza, a building that had the offices of Al Jazeera and Associated Press.
In context to the above incident, the image is widely shared in India with a caption which reads in English as, "This is the reality that a Shantidoot (referring to Muslims) is first a Shantidoot, and a press reporter, police official, Ministers later. The reporter of an International news agency, Associated Press, came live on TV, but before coming LIVE, he forgot to remove the headband that is used by the members of Hamas, and this is how the world saw the real face of Associated Press. Israel bombed the office of Al Jazeera, in the same building Associated Press' office was also struck down. At that time, all journalists were advising Israel that it has attacked the media. Now, why are they silent on this, that a journalist is a member of Hamas, a terrorist organisation banned by the United Nations and over 150 nations. Similarly, one day, Ravish Kumar will also forget to remove the headband of Hizbul Mujahidin and will go live."
The image is viral on Facebook.
The post is also widely being shared on Twitter.
Claim:
The viral image shows an AP reporter who forgot to remove his Hamas headband before going live.
Fact Check:
The Logical Indian noticed that the screenshot shared mentioned that the article was written by BabylonBee.
Babylon Bee published the article on May 15, 2021.
Ongoing through the About Us section of the website, we found it is a satirical website. The About Us section of the website defines the website as the world's best satire site, totally inerrant in all its truth claims. The satires on the site are about Christian stuff, political stuff, and everyday life.
Further, on doing a reverse image search of the photo shared by Babylon Bee, we found that the photo of the journalist used by the site was morphed. The photo used two different images and merged them as one, and then morphed it.
Image 1: The background image is of the destruction of the Al Jalaa tower in Gaza. The same image was also published in The Times of Israel on May 16, 2021, with a caption, "Gaza's Jalaa Tower, which housed the offices of the Associated Press and Al Jazeera, is destroyed in Israeli strikes after occupants were warned to depart, May 15, 2021 (video screenshot)."
Image 2: The reporter's image is from Egypt in 2011 and not of the recent Israel-Palestine conflict. Al Jazeera had published a story on February 6, 2011, titled, 'Egypt frees Al Jazeera journalist.' The article shows the image of the reporter, but there is no Hamas headband on it. Moreover, according to the article, the image was of former Al Jazeera reporter Ayman Mohyeldin and not of an AP reporter. Ayman Mohyeldin is currently a featured MSNBC anchor.
Hence, a morphed image used by a satirical website is being circulated in India to falsely claim that the AP reporter was wearing the headband of Hamas during the live recording.
If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.
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