Fact Check: Pak journalist in this viral video isn't dead. He told us the real story
advertisementHowever, India Today Fact Check tracked down the reporter, Ali Musa Raza of Pakistan, and spoke to him. He was not even swept away. MO deleted the video when pointed out the mistake.
More than 170 people have already died in Pakistan since June 25, as massive floods have destroyed hundreds of houses in the Punjab province of Pakistan.As the reporter's video went viral, it generated a range of reactions on social media. While some rued his 'tragic death', others applauded his journalistic spirit. Some discarded it as AI-generated, and still others thought it was staged.
WHERE DID THE VIDEO COME FROM?Scanning through the news reports from Pakistan and India, we found that the source of this video is Rohi TV, a local media outlet based in the Punjab province of Pakistan. This original report was published on July 14. The man in the video is Ali Musa Raza, a Pakistani journalist who also goes by the name of Amir. According to the news published on the Facebook Page of Rohi TV on July 14, Musa and his cameraman shot the video at Koh Sulaiman, near Sakhi Sarwar in southern Punjab.WHAT DID MUSA SAY?We spoke to Ali Musa Raza and asked him how the rumour about his death got viral. Musa said that it might have to do with how the viral video ends abruptly. Musa told India Today Fact Check that while he was neither swept away nor fell into the current. All that happened was that when he took a step back, his cable mic got disconnected, following which his cameraman paused the recording. Soon after his video went viral, and many Indian publications declared him dead, he started getting calls and messages from his friends and family. Musa was so fed up with these messages that he recorded a follow-up video on July 20, accusing Indian media of bias and spreading fake news.
We asked Musa if he was swept away at the time, since he was almost entirely submerged in the flood waters. He claimed that he is an expert in shooting dramatic flood videos and has done it multiple times earlier as well. He boasted that this is not the first time that his videos have become viral in India. He shared with us his earlier adventures as a daredevil flood reporter.- Ends
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