 "A 'blooper' that wasn't: TOI headline claiming 'Modi and Xi will mate' six times is fake, newspaper clarifies")
As Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese premier Xi Jinping held an ‘informal summit’ in Wuhan, Twitter was in splits over a _’_blooper’ in The Times of India. An image of an article purportedly headlined ‘Modi and Xi mate six times in 24 hours’ went viral on Friday. However, the newspaper has now clarified that the image — which was shared by various prominent personalities, including journalists — was photoshopped to replace the original word ‘meet’ with ‘mate’.
A photoshopped image of our headline on the Modi-Xi meet is doing the rounds. All our editions carry the correct headline. You can see the difference when the correct & fake headlines are placed together. The one on the right is the photoshopped image with the word 'mate' tilted. pic.twitter.com/76NZGuFpR1
— The Times Of India (@timesofindia) April 27, 2018
The original article as published in their print edition on 27 April carried a headline, sans any typographical error, that read: Modi, Xi will meet 6 times in 24 hours. Firstpost could not identify the original source of the fake image but it was tweeted out by prominent Twitter users.
Is this photoshopped? Or is this a Freudian slip of epic proportions considering our position vis a vis China pic.twitter.com/mJbFQquD1m
— SANJAY HEGDE (@sanjayuvacha) April 27, 2018
What's this .@timesofindia pic.twitter.com/XFutqk3B24
— D Roopa IPS (@D_Roopa_IPS) April 27, 2018
Even without analysing the image threadbare, a slight smudge or a change in texture is visible around the word ‘mate.’ However, some Twitter users pointed out that there was a difference in the text font and size too if one were to zoom the image sufficiently. As soon as the clarification was issued by the newspaper, several Twitter users promptly retracted their posts and instead shared the newspaper’s clarification.
Learnt that this is photoshopped. What skill! Anybody would take it on face value in the first place. Watsapp era- new things, new talents including debunking!! https://t.co/7vcw0XZZVa
— D Roopa IPS (@D_Roopa_IPS) April 27, 2018
Impact Shorts
More ShortsToI got the headline right. The other one is photoshopped. pic.twitter.com/sr7rASeHZS
— Saikat Datta (@saikatd) April 27, 2018
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