OpIndia
 |
| OpIndia logo | |
Type of site | News |
|---|---|
| Available in | English, Hindi |
| Owner | Aadhyaasi Media And Content Services |
| URL | www |
OpIndia is an Indian right-wing[1] digital news media portal founded in 2014 by Kumar Kunal Kamal and Rahul Raj. It also claims to be a fact-checking website.[2] OpIndia has propagated fake news on multiple occasions.[3] In 2019, the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) rejected OpIndia's application for accreditation as a fact checker.[4]
History
OpIndia was founded in 2014 by Rahul Raj and Kumar Kamal as a current affairs and news website. In October 2016, it was acquired by Kovai Media Private Limited, a Coimbatore-based company of T. V. Mohandas Pai that also owns the right-leaning magazine Swarajya.[5]
Later, it was disassociated from the group and became a separate entity.[6] Nupur J Sharma is the current editor.[5]
Content
In a 2018 interview with the Business Standard, Sharma stated that OpIndia is openly right-leaning and does not claim to be ideologically neutral.[7] OpIndia has accused multiple prominent media outlets – The Wall Street Journal, India Today, Scroll.in, The Wire, and others – of spreading fake news and leftist propaganda.[8]
Fact checkers certified by the Poynter Institute's International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), including Alt News and Boom, have identified multiple instances in which OpIndia has propagated fake news.[3]
Reception
In May 2019, the IFCN rejected OpIndia's application to be accredited as a fact-checker.[9] While noting partial compliance on a number of categories, the IFCN rejected the application on grounds of political partisanship and lack of transparency, and raised concerns over questionable fact-checking methodologies.[4] The rejection disqualified OpIndia from fact-checking contracts with web properties owned by Facebook and Google.[9] In response, Sharma criticized the IFCN assessment and urged for acceptance of outlets with "declared ideological leanings".[9]
References
- ^ Sources supporting OpIndia to follow a right wing ideology:
- Bhushan/TheWire, Sandeep (2017-01-26). "Arnab's Republic hints at mainstreaming right-wing opinion as a business". Business Standard India. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
- Ananth, Venkat (2019-05-07). "Can fact-checking emerge as big and viable business?". The Economic Times. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
- Mihindukulasuriya, Regina (2019-05-08). "BJP supporters have a secret weapon in their online poll campaign — satire". ThePrint. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - Sharma, Ajay. Horses Can Fly. Notion Press. ISBN 9352066715.
- Ghosh, Labonita (17 June 2018). "The troll who turned". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - Manish, Sai (8 April 2018). "Busting fake news: Who funds whom?". Business Standard. Retrieved 2020-03-03 – via Rediff.com.
- Chaturvedi, Swati (2016). I Am a Troll: Inside the Secret World of the BJP's Digital Army. Juggernaut Books. pp. 11, 23. ISBN 9789386228093.
- "Tables Turn on Twitter's Hindutva Warriors, and It's the BJP Doing the Strong-Arming". The Wire. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
- ^ Bhushan/TheWire, Sandeep (2017-01-26). "Arnab's Republic hints at mainstreaming right-wing opinion as a business". Business Standard India. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
- ^ a b *"Search results for OpIndia". Alt News. Archived from the original on 16 March 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
- "Search results for OpIndia". Boom. Archived from the original on 16 March 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
- Santanu Chakrabarti (20 November 2018). "DUTY, IDENTITY, CREDIBILITY – Fake news and the ordinary citizen in India" (PDF). BBC. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
- "Debunking False Allegations About Amartya Sen and Nalanda University". The Wire. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
- Khuhro, Zarrar (2018-07-09). "Digital death". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
- Saxena, Gaurav (17 July 2017). "A day without fake news: BJP IT Cell's protest against police action". Newslaundry.
- Tiwari, Ayush (19 August 2018). "What the 'fact-checks' on Modi's gutter-gas theory didn't tell us". Newslaundry.
- Kumar, Basant (3 January 2020). "Fake news, lies, Muslim bashing, and Ravish Kumar: Inside OpIndia's harrowing world". Newslaundry. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
- ^ a b Kaur, Kanchan (11 February 2019). "Conclusions and recommendations on the application by OpIndia.com". International Fact-Checking Network. Archived from the original on 10 March 2019. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ a b Manish, Sai (2018-04-07). "Right vs Wrong: Arundhati Roy, Mohandas Pai funding fake news busters". Business Standard India. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
- ^ Roushan, Rahul (2018-11-23). "Announcement: OpIndia is now a separate legal and business entity - Opindia News". OpIndia. Retrieved 2019-11-30.
- ^ Manish, Sai (8 April 2018). "Busting fake news: Who funds whom?". Business Standard. Retrieved 2020-03-03 – via Rediff.com.
- ^ Kumar, Basant (3 January 2020). "Fake news, lies, Muslim bashing, and Ravish Kumar: Inside OpIndia's harrowing world". Newslaundry. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
- ^ a b c Ananth, Venkat (2019-05-07). "Can fact-checking emerge as big and viable business?". The Economic Times. Retrieved 10 November 2019.