Confused by a Times of India ad, IANS breaks a story from 11 years ago

This doesn’t happen everyday, does it? IANS on Wednesday reported a story that had already happened 11 years ago. Why? Because the news agency saw an ad on the frontpage of the Times of India.

Here’s what seems to have happened. The Times of India on Wednesday republished its frontpage from April 3, 2011. In the very next page though, the daily explained that this was a marketing gimmick to advertise Oreo. It was an ad, yes. “Today’s frontpage is not a mistake. TOI is joining Oreo to #Bringback2011 to help team India bring back the Cup,” the paper made abundantly clear. “Oreo is launching itself again in 2022 because when it launched in 2011, Team India won.”

IANS didn’t get the memo, as it were. The agency’s journalists picked up a report from the 2011 frontpage – the ad, that is – about the CBI filing its first chargesheet in the 2G scam and naming former union minister A Raja in it.

The IANS “story” was promptly picked up and published by a host of news platforms. Aren’t news platforms supposed to verify what they publish, you ask?