Indian media declares America supports new farm laws. It doesn’t

Several English and Hindi news platforms on Thursday published reports by news agencies ANI and PTI claiming that the United States had come out “in support of India’s new farm laws saying it welcomes steps that would improve the efficiency of Indian markets and attract greater private sector investment”.

Had they bothered reading the statement released by the Americans, and attributed to a spokesperson for the State Department, the media outlets would have found that this was far from accurate.

As the news website Scroll reported, this is what the US statement actually says: “In general the United States welcomes steps that would improve the efficiency of India’s markets and attract greater private sector investment.” The US, however, “encourages that any differences between the parties be resolved through dialogue”.

That the statement doesn’t explicitly declare American’s support for the farm laws is a crucial detail that most news platforms omitted from their headlines.

Here’s how Indian news outlets reported the statement:

Republic

While most Indian media platforms reproduced news agency reports on the statement, the Republic article was written by a reporter.

“Amid the farmers’ protest, the United States has now come out in support of India and hailed the Centre's three farm laws,” it read. “The state department issued a statement indicating that the new Biden administration is supportive of the Indian government's move to reform the agricultural sector.”

The article quoted the US statement, attributing it to ANI, but left out the “in general” part.

NDTV

NDTV carried the PTI report on the statement and headlined it, “'Will Improve Efficiency Of India Markets": US On Farm Laws Amid Protest.” Before quoting the statement, it declared, “Indicating that the new Biden administration is supportive of the Indian government's move to reform the agricultural sector that attracts private investment and greater market access to farmers.”

Business Standard

The English newspaper reproduced the ANI article and headlined it, “US backs India's new farm laws, says it will improve efficiency of markets”.

The Week

The Week’s report, written by the Web Desk with inputs from PTI, quoted the statement and said it “indicated” the Biden administration was “supportive of the Indian government's move to reform the agricultural sector that attracts private investment and greater market access to farmers”.

Mint

The business paper quoted the statement before arguing, “The US is supportive of the Indian government's move to reform the agricultural sector that attracts private investment and greater market access to farmers.”

Times Now

Times Now also credited PTI for its report which it headlined, “‘Would improve efficiency of India's markets': US hails agri laws amid farmers' protest.”

Economic Times

The pink paper, a Times Group property like Times Now, reproduced the ANI report with the headline, “US backs India's new farm laws, says it will improve efficiency of markets”.