Pakistan's Dawn newspaper did not publish headline blaming floods on those who don't read the Quran
Pakistan's Dawn newspaper did not publish headline blaming floods on those who don't read the Quran
(Reuters) - Thousands of people have viewed an image of a fake front page of a Pakistani newspaper which suggests that August flooding, which has killed 1,100 people, is a punishment from Allah.
Social media users have widely shared the picture, which mimics the front page of Dawn, an English-language newspaper in Pakistan, and which features the headline: “Flood in Pakistan is not due to Climate Change, but because people are not reading the Quran” (here , here and here ).
— sidha_memer (@Sidha_memer) August 28, 2022
But no such page can be found on Dawn, and the newspaper itself said the image had been fabricated (here).
“The image is cropped to show only the doctored and false headline and the picture collage from the original story,” a response article on the Dawn website said on Aug. 30.
The original story was published on Aug. 27, with the headline: “Army called in as KP faces flood threat.”
Dawn added: “It features elements of the story’s web version, including the Dawn logo at the top, as well as the original bylines.”
The article also noted that the fake headline did not adhere to Dawn’s style guidelines. It highlighted the use of a full stop, capitalisation on climate and change, and the lack of attribution.
The flooding in Pakistan has submerged a third of the country, killing more than 1,100 people, including 380 children. On Aug. 30, the United Nations appealed for aid for what it described as an “unprecedented climate catastrophe”.
VERDICT
Altered. No such headline was published by Dawn.
