Claim: A video shows a news anchor crying while remembering the former prime minister and PTI chief Imran Khan during a live transmission.
Fact: The video has been altered to include an image of Imran Khan and the former president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi. It is actually from July 2019, and shows an Orient News broadcaster who broke down while reporting on a bombing by Syrian government forces in northern Syria.
On 28 April 2024, X (formerly Twitter) user @ShahzadGill202 posted a video claiming that a television anchor broke down while remembering Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) former chief Imran Khan during a news transmission.
His post reads,
“ٹیلیویژن چینل پر خاتون اینکر عمران خان کو یاد کر کے رو پڑی
یہ عمران خان کا جادو ہے، جب آپ بے لوث، سچے اور مخلص ہوں تو دنیا کے کسی بھی حصے میں آپ کی عزت کی جاتی ہے۔
[A female anchor cried remembering Imran Khan on a television channel.
This is the magic of Imran Khan, when you are selfless, true and sincere, you are respected in any part of the world]”
In the clip, Khan can be seen shaking hands with Iran’s former president Ebrahim Raisi.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check ascertained that the original clip was aired on Syrian news outlet Orient News.
A reverse-image search led us to an article from December 2022 which debunks the claim about an Arab broadcaster crying after Ronaldo left the World Cup.
The article states that the video was shared on social media in a misleading context earlier as well, and cites an Arabic report by AFP, also a signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN), which had investigated the claim at the time.
The AFP found that the video was originally aired by Orient News in July 2019, showing broadcaster Daline Mahrat breaking into tears while reporting on a bombing by the government forces in northern Syria.
Mahrat cried while showing a photo, allegedly taken by a soldier from a helicopter that was bombing the city of Khan Shaykhun, Idlib Governorate, but the photo’s authenticity could not be confirmed, the AFP’s report added.
Soch Fact Check also found the video on Orient News’ official YouTube channel, uploaded on 25 July 2019, with the title, “ الصورة التي أبكت مذيعة الأورينت: أجهشت بالبكاء وتم قطع البرنامج على الهواء! [The picture that made the Orient presenter cry: She burst into tears and the program was cut off on the air!]”. The anchor can be seen crying at the 0:44 mark of the clip.
Hence, we conclude that a photo of Khan and Iran’s former president has been edited onto the clip to make it seem like the anchor cried while reporting on them.
Virality:
The clip can be found here, here, here and here on X.
The tweet gained significant traction with 118,500 views, 7,400 likes and 4,000 reposts.
On Facebook, the claim was posted here, here, here, here and here.
Conclusion: A viral video does not show a news anchor crying over Imran Khan. In fact, it has been altered. The original broadcast, first aired in July 2019 by Orient News, depicts Daline Mahrat breaking into tears while reporting on a bombing by Syrian government forces in northern Syria.
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