题图：印度总理莫迪最近在孟买进行了电视直播，讲述了针对巴基斯坦的军事行动。

During the conflict between India and Pakistan, even some long-trusted outlets reported unverified information and fabricated stories.

在印度与巴基斯坦的冲突期间，一些长期受信任的媒体机构也报道了未经核实的信息和编造的故事。
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The news reports chronicled India’s overwhelming successes: Indian attacks had struck a Pakistani nuclear base, downed two Pakistani fighter jets and blasted part of Pakistan’s Karachi port, the country’s oil and trade lifeline.

新闻报道详细描述了印度的压倒性胜利：印度袭击了巴基斯坦的核基地、击落了两架巴基斯坦战斗机，并摧毁了巴基斯坦卡拉奇港的部分区域——该港口是该国的石油和贸易命脉。

Each piece of information was highly specific, but none of it was true.

每条信息都看似细节详实，但实际无一属实。
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Disinformation on social media in the days during and since India and Pakistan’s intense military confrontation last week has been overwhelming. Sifting fact from fiction has been nearly impossible on both sides of the border because of the sheer volume of falsehoods, half-truths, memes, misleading video footage and speeches manipulated by artificial intelligence.

自上周印巴激烈军事对峙以来，社交媒体上的虚假信息铺天盖地。由于充斥着大量谎言、半真半假的陈述、网络梗图、误导性视频片段和人工智能操纵的演讲，在边境两侧几乎无法区分事实与虚构。

But some of that flood also made its way into the mainstream media, a development that alarmed analysts monitoring the evolution of outlets in India once trusted for their independence. The race to break news and a jingoistic approach to reporting reached a fever pitch during the four-day conflict, as anchors and commentators became cheerleaders for war between two nuclear-armed states. Some well-known TV networks aired unverified information or even fabricated stories amid the burst of nationalistic fervor.

然而，部分虚假信息甚至流入了主流媒体。这一现象令观察印度媒体演变的分析人士感到震惊——这些媒体曾因独立性而备受信任。在为期四天的冲突中，抢发新闻的竞争和好战的报道方式达到狂热程度，主持人和评论员成了两个拥核国家间战争的啦啦队。一些知名电视台在民族主义情绪高涨之际，播出了未经核实的信息，甚至编造的故事。

And news outlets reported on a supposed strike on a Pakistani nuclear base that was rumored to have caused radiation leaks. They shared detailed maps that purported to show where the strikes had been. But there was no evidence to uphold these claims. The story of the Indian Navy attacking Karachi was also widely circulated. It has since been discredited.

媒体还报道了所谓对巴基斯坦核基地的袭击，传言称该袭击导致了辐射泄漏。它们分享了据称显示袭击地点的详细地图，但这些说法毫无证据支持。关于印度海军袭击卡拉奇的报道也广为流传，但后来被证实为假新闻。

“When we think of misinformation, we think of anonymous people, of bots online, where you never know what the source of the thing is,” said Sumitra Badrinathan, an assistant professor of political science at American University who studies misinformation in South Asia. Social media platforms were also rife with misinformation during India’s 2019 conflict with Pakistan, but what was notable this time, Dr. Badrinathan said, was that “previously credible journalists and major media news outlets ran straight-up fabricated stories.”

“当我们想到虚假信息时，通常会联想到匿名用户或网络机器人——你永远不知道来源是什么，”研究南亚虚假信息的美国大学政治学助理教授苏米特拉-巴德里纳坦表示。在2019年印巴冲突期间，社交媒体平台也充斥着虚假信息，但巴德里纳坦博士指出，这次值得注意的是“曾经可信的记者和主流新闻媒体直接传播了编造的故事”。

“When previously trusted sources become disinformation outlets, it’s a really large problem,” she said.

“当曾经可信的来源沦为虚假信息传播渠道时，这就是一个非常严重的问题。”她说。

The misinformation shared on mainstream media platforms about the conflict between India and Pakistan is the latest blow to what was once a vibrant journalism scene in India.

主流媒体平台关于印巴冲突的虚假信息，是对印度曾经充满活力的新闻业的又一次打击。

Warring sides have spread lies and propaganda for as long as there has been armed conflict. And mainstream news outlets have not been immune from presenting their countries’ battlefield efforts in a favorable light or from, at times, rushing to publish information that later turns out to be incorrect.

自武装冲突存在以来，交战双方便会散布谎言和宣传。主流媒体也未能免俗，它们倾向于美化本国的战场行动，有时急于发布后来被证明不实的信息。

But social media has exponentially increased the potential for misinformation. And in India, there has been a steady erosion of free speech since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014. Many news outlets have been pressured into suppressing news damaging to the government’s reputation. Others, including many big television networks, have come to promote the government’s policies. (Some small independent online news publications have pursued more accountable journalism, but their reach is limited.)

但社交媒体极大地放大了虚假信息的传播潜力。而在印度，自2014年总理纳伦德拉-莫迪上台以来，言论自由持续受到侵蚀。许多媒体迫于压力压制有损政府声誉的新闻，包括大型电视台在内的其他媒体则开始宣传政府政策。（一些小型独立网络媒体坚持更负责任的新闻原则，但其影响力有限。）

One of India’s most prominent journalists and an anchor at the India Today television channel, Rajdeep Sardesai, apologized on air to viewers last week for running reports about Pakistani jets being shot down, news that had not been “proven at the moment,” he said.

印度最著名的记者之一、今日印度电视台主持人拉吉迪普-萨尔德赛上周在节目中为报道“巴基斯坦战机被击落”一事向观众道歉。他表示，这一消息当时“尚未得到证实”。

On his YouTube video blog on Saturday, he again apologized, saying that some of the falsehoods were part of a deliberate campaign by the “right-wing disinformation machine under the guise of national interest,” and that 24-hour news channels can sometimes fall into the trap.

在周六的YouTube视频博客中，他再次道歉，称部分虚假信息是“以国家利益为幌子的右翼虚假信息机器”蓄意策划的，并指出24小时新闻频道有时会落入此类陷阱。

Disinformation — information spread with malicious intent — is “designed to incite, sometimes to conceal as well, but predominantly to escalate emotions in content that’s very engagement friendly,” said Daniel Silverman, an assistant professor of political science at Carnegie Mellon University who has studied the subject. In the context of India and Pakistan, audiences are already primed to embrace and spread any falsehoods, given the two countries’ historical enmity, Dr. Silverman said.

卡内基梅隆大学研究虚假信息的政治学助理教授丹尼尔-西尔弗曼表示，虚假信息（带有恶意传播的信息）“旨在煽动情绪，有时也用于掩盖真相，但主要是通过极易引发互动的内容来升级情绪”。西尔弗曼博士指出，在印巴的语境下，由于两国历史积怨，受众本就倾向于接受和传播任何虚假信息。
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In India, an independent fact-checking website called Alt News that is dedicated to weeding out misinformation on social media and mainstream media has provided evidence of numerous fabrications aired by TV outlets, including prominent national channels like Aaj Tak and News18.

在印度，致力于清除社交媒体和主流媒体虚假信息的独立事实核查网站Alt News提供了多家电视台传播编造新闻的证据，包括Aaj Tak和News18等知名全国性频道。

“The information ecosystem is broken,” said Pratik Sinha, a founder of Alt News. Fact-checking can combat misinformation, Mr. Sinha said, but it has a cost: Alt News is fighting a defamation suit filed by another media outlet. Its reporters have also been harassed.

“信息生态系统已经崩溃，”Alt News联合创始人普拉提克-辛哈表示。他指出，事实核查可以对抗虚假信息，但需付出代价：Alt News正面临另一家媒体提起的诽谤诉讼，其记者也遭到骚扰。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处


More than 200 million Indian households own a television set, and around 450 private TV stations are dedicated to news, according to Reporters Without Borders, making television a major source of information in India.

据“无国界记者”组织数据，印度超过2亿家庭拥有电视机，约450家私营电视台专注于新闻，这使得电视成为印度主要的信息来源。

Last week, several well-known TV stations ran with the story of the Indian Navy attacking Karachi. The reports spread quickly. The terms “Karachi” and “Karachi Port” began trending on X, and images appeared on social media of dark clouds over the city caused by explosions.

上周，多家知名电视台报道了印度海军袭击卡拉奇的消息。报道迅速传播，“卡拉奇”和“卡拉奇港”成为X平台的热搜词，社交媒体上还出现了据称由爆炸引发的城市上空乌云的照片。

Fact-checkers eventually found that those visuals had been from Gaza. In their briefing after the conflict ended, the Indian Navy said that it had been prepared to attack Karachi but had not done so.

事实核查人员最终发现，这些画面来自加沙。冲突结束后，印度海军在简报中表示，他们曾准备攻击卡拉奇，但最终并未实施。