In spite of two major exposes against Asian News International (ANI), a major Indian "news" agency, in 2019 and 2020, the wire service continues to push disinformation using "unreal" sources and "ghost experts" to execute propaganda against Pakistan and China.
This was discovered by the EU DisinfoLab in its latest investigation report, ‘Bad Sources (BS)’ into anti-Pakistan and China influence operations as part of its follow-up on two previous investigations.
It is pertinent to mention here that, in its earlier reports, the DisInfoLab had said ANI "regularly quoted the defunct ‘EP Today’ and ‘EU Chronicles’, two fake media outlets supposedly specializing in EU affairs that were, in fact, created to push anti-Pakistan/China narratives in India."
The investigation looks into a number of non-existent organizations, bloggers, and journalists who are regularly quoted by ANI. The Indian news agency plays a relevant role in the country’s information ecosystem, providing content for many well-established media across India, such as The Print and Business Standard. ANI’s articles are also reproduced on well-known digital portals such as Yahoo News. With this network, ANI acts as a purveyor of news to millions of Indians.
https://twitter.com/DisinfoEU/status/1628663986655748096?s=20
According to the investigation conducted by the DisinfoLab: "ANI has been repeatedly quoting a think tank that was dissolved in 2014 and therefore no longer exists." "ANI has been using quotes from a journalist, as well as from several bloggers and supposed geopolitical experts, who do not exist," it added.
Fake personae, who self-described as James Bond fans, basketball players, and management consultants, became geopolitical experts quoted by ANI numerous times on topics such as Pakistan’s army doctrines and China’s ‘wolf warrior diplomacy’, it added.
"A think tank, that we had previously linked to the Srivastava group and that was legally dissolved in 2014, is now quoted about twice a week by ANI. The think tank’s website falsely mentions real Canadian university professors as participants in a conference that they never attended, even concocting false quotes by these academics. We had already observed this identity-hijacking pattern in our previous Indian Chronicles investigation," the report stated.
The narratives pushed by these fake personae and/or organisations are almost entirely about criticising Pakistan and China, countries that are not India’s greatest allies on the international stage. These fake experts or think tanks are quoted almost exclusively by ANI and then republished across several Indian media outlets. Besides ANI and those outlets republishing its content, barely any other established media covered the reports produced by these ‘Bad Sources’ (BS) – the name we gave to this investigation, it added.
"We assess that ANI has, at least, failed its readership by not respecting the fundamentals of the Charter of Munich. The fact that some of the ‘organizations’ mentioned use fake personae and are trying to hide their tracks while counting on being regularly quoted by ANI shows that ANI is, de facto, playing a key role in this influence operation," it added.
This was discovered by the EU DisinfoLab in its latest investigation report, ‘Bad Sources (BS)’ into anti-Pakistan and China influence operations as part of its follow-up on two previous investigations.
It is pertinent to mention here that, in its earlier reports, the DisInfoLab had said ANI "regularly quoted the defunct ‘EP Today’ and ‘EU Chronicles’, two fake media outlets supposedly specializing in EU affairs that were, in fact, created to push anti-Pakistan/China narratives in India."
The investigation looks into a number of non-existent organizations, bloggers, and journalists who are regularly quoted by ANI. The Indian news agency plays a relevant role in the country’s information ecosystem, providing content for many well-established media across India, such as The Print and Business Standard. ANI’s articles are also reproduced on well-known digital portals such as Yahoo News. With this network, ANI acts as a purveyor of news to millions of Indians.
https://twitter.com/DisinfoEU/status/1628663986655748096?s=20
According to the investigation conducted by the DisinfoLab: "ANI has been repeatedly quoting a think tank that was dissolved in 2014 and therefore no longer exists." "ANI has been using quotes from a journalist, as well as from several bloggers and supposed geopolitical experts, who do not exist," it added.
Fake personae, who self-described as James Bond fans, basketball players, and management consultants, became geopolitical experts quoted by ANI numerous times on topics such as Pakistan’s army doctrines and China’s ‘wolf warrior diplomacy’, it added.
"A think tank, that we had previously linked to the Srivastava group and that was legally dissolved in 2014, is now quoted about twice a week by ANI. The think tank’s website falsely mentions real Canadian university professors as participants in a conference that they never attended, even concocting false quotes by these academics. We had already observed this identity-hijacking pattern in our previous Indian Chronicles investigation," the report stated.
The narratives pushed by these fake personae and/or organisations are almost entirely about criticising Pakistan and China, countries that are not India’s greatest allies on the international stage. These fake experts or think tanks are quoted almost exclusively by ANI and then republished across several Indian media outlets. Besides ANI and those outlets republishing its content, barely any other established media covered the reports produced by these ‘Bad Sources’ (BS) – the name we gave to this investigation, it added.
"We assess that ANI has, at least, failed its readership by not respecting the fundamentals of the Charter of Munich. The fact that some of the ‘organizations’ mentioned use fake personae and are trying to hide their tracks while counting on being regularly quoted by ANI shows that ANI is, de facto, playing a key role in this influence operation," it added.