Here is another web journalism faux pas. After covering Mamata Banerjee’s ‘sweet’ victory over Odisha (legitimising West Bengal’s claims over the origins of rosogolla), sections of the news media wrote of another fight between two other states. Clue: The states already have a longstanding rivalry going.

It is a fight between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over Mysuru Pak, another sweetmeat. Or so the Times of India would have led us to believe.

On November 16, TOI did a story titled: “Mysuru Pak is ours: Karnataka and Tamil Nadu fight it out.” The story claimed a “fierce war of words has erupted between Tamilians and Kannadigas on social media over the provenance of Mysuru Pak.”

The story quoted British administrator-politician Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay talking about the origins of the sweetmeat. If TOI is to be believed, Macaulay addressed the Indian Parliament in 1835!

Erm, that is not all. Because it wasn’t just TOI. The story was picked up by several others including India Today, Marathi daily Loksatta, Bengaluru English newspaper Bangalore Mirror, Tamil TV channel Puthiya Thalaimurai and Kannada TV channel Public TV.

The source of these stories probably lies in an August 2015 tweet by Newslaundry’s Anand Ranganathan. Using a photoshopped image in full-on satire, Ranganathan had stated the British administrator was addressing the British Parliament in 1835 on the Tamil origin of the Mysuru Pak. (And this by itself should have been a giveaway.)

Because the Britisher who is being quoted in the report was in Calcutta, India and not in London then.

While two years back, Twitterati understood Ranganathan’s humour (and responded with as much jest), journalists today might have forgotten to scroll down. Or was it the “pressure” to come up with click-bait in the aftermath of the juicy rosogolla story?

The TOI story was bylined Vijaya Karnataka, the Kannada newspaper in the Bennett and Coleman stable. To check the veracity of TOI’s claims, Newslaundry checked the original story as well. But the Vijaya Karnataka story doesn’t mention the British Parliament at all.

Speaking to Newslaundry, Ranganathan said he had tweeted the photoshopped image some two years back during one of his regular visits to Saravana Bhavan.

He said: “At one level, it is outrageously funny but, on the other level, it is absolutely scary. Since the story is now “viral to the extent that it is being picked up by news agencies,” he added.

The root of the problem, Ranganathan said, is that “the printed word still carries a lot of weight and if it is in print, people instinctively believe it. We have been taught to do that for 50-60 odd years. So there is a lot of trust.” Even though a lot of the trust has eroded because of social media, the first instinct is still to believe it, he added, stating that if Macaulay was here he would have loved it.

“They have taken the gospel truth of the tweet,” Ranganathan added. He also said, “It is a victory for the Tamilians,” referring to the ‘apparent’ war between the Tamilians and the Kannadigas over the origins of Mysuru Pak.

Ranganathan also said that it could possibly be Macaulay’s way of coming back to punish us. He said the satirical tweet taking a life of its own could be Indian Penal Code’s Section 420 coming to life. Macaulay had chaired the First Law Commission when the draft of the Indian Penal Code was being prepared.

Responding to the incessant number of publications picking up the unverified story, which TOI has now pulled down, Ranganathan said, “I hope the next story isn’t on Home Alone, the other Macaulay [Culkin]— the child actor in the movie Home Alone.”

Having said that, it is important to address the elephant in the room — Twitter journalism. Publication of stories based on unverified information (in this case, a combination of a photoshopped image and its satirical appeal) leads to the creation of ‘alternative facts’ which reporters should increasingly guard against.

To put the record straight, Lord Macaulay did not comment on Mysuru Pak’s origins. However, the stories carried by the publications on the alleged quote and the subsequent ‘war of words’ between residents of the two states are still doing the rounds of social media.

India Today, however, updated its story to reflect that it had gotten the story wrong. The updated story stated: “Tamils and Kannadigas are too busy relishing Mysore Pak to spar over its origins. TOI got it wrong and eventually any report quoting that TOI report had to get it wrong.”

Newslaundry has reached out to Times Internet and the story will be updated as and when we get their responses.