New Delhi: Indian news agency, ANI has apologised for publishing fake news about a possible attack by Rohingya in Nagaland. The story was published on Oct 12, quoting unnamed “intelligence sources” branch that warned against a possible attack by Rohingya refugees.
The story claimed that the Imam of Dimapur was taking help of Rohingya rebels to bring arms and ammunition from Bangladesh.
Smita Prakash, ANI editor released a statement on Twitter and called publishing of the story ‘an error’. She said that the copy editor who had published the story was no longer part of the organisation.
— Smita Prakash (@smitaprakash) October 15, 2017
The news was being circulated on social media in Nagaland and was first pointed out by The Morung Express to be fake.
“We have installed stricter editorial firewalls for stories and do regret the entire sequence of events that led to it’s dissemination,” tweeted Prakash, attributing the “oversight” to the “daily rush of the newscycle [sic]”.