Bhubaneswar: The office of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik fell victim to fake news with a dubious news report citing a purported Oxford University study tweeted via the CMO Tweeter handle.
“Ganjam earned praise from @UniofOxford for its successful model of #COVID-19 infection prevention. The district excelled in #CovidManagement by empowering sarpanchs, forming committees in villages for intensive screening and by ensuring proper healthcare,” CMO tweeted sharing an article of little-known website called pledgetimes.com October 8.
As soon as the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) put out the tweet, the official handle of the district magistrate of Ganjam too tweeted, “Ganjam Model of COVID Management got recognized by @UniofOxford for successful infection prevention strategies. Our gratitude and appreciation to Team Ganjam.”
When doubts were cast on the purported study, the CMO deleted the tweet in English, but it continued with the Odia tweet which quoted another website. Almost all vernacular dailies carried the reported Oxford University study prominently Friday.
When asked about the study, a senior officer said he did not have the study and the tweet was based on a news article.
