What happens when a difference of opinion turns into an obsession of proving? What happens when a cult of purpose turns democratic freedom into exercising its own agenda?  What happens when one group’s lie is blindly trusted, more than the other’s truth? Such questions pop up in the head when left-wing doesn’t just go against the right in understanding, but also becomes a blood-sucking extremist organization. With the power of the internet has come out the scandalous side of the overly obsessive liberals, and it has been showcased as a mania on many occasions.

 “In the life of any publication, an occasion may come when it is misinformed. The moral test is whether the publication persists or speaks the truth. We chose the latter when we realised, we had been given fraudulent information.” Upon reading this statement lodged by the online leftist-media company The Wire with a frail mindset or one that craves scandalous assumptions, one would easily be the victim of sympathy for the said outlet. However, it is imperative to unwind the cycle of a polarised media world and carefully look into the discourse this is creating in the Indian atmosphere. This statement was a supposed apology posted by The Wire after it had admittedly succumbed to its error in journalism, which resulted in the tarnishing of an unaware government and an innocent government official. As the extreme leftist media house went ahead for weeks, entertaining a falsely published claim of the BJP’s  IT head Amit Malviya tempering the Meta’s social platforms for gatekeeping the political party’s image; it was proven to be fabricated news. The Wire then started screaming bloody murder, pointing fingers at one of its own. Seeking the validation of a blind leftist audience, it filed a so-called apology that ended with – “Whether the person who brought all the material to The Wire deceived us at anyone’ else’s behest or acted on his own is a matter that will be subjected to judicial process in due course. The malintent to discredit The Wire is obvious. Other than this, we have nothing to say.” Under no microscope of righteousness does this read as a sincerely given apology to an attacked social media giant or an uninvolved individual.

Then, it was the false pretence of getting rid of the evidence. The Wire got rid of the reports from its platform, which wasn’t acted upon just for this out-of-hand situation. Throwing baseless dirt on BJP In January, The Wire had come out with another such allegation, regarding a supposed application called “Tek Fog” which allowed BJP to surpass social media guidelines and securities, giving them access to control or temper the contents of the platforms. Did they have any proof? Apart from easily-fabricated screenshots, they could not come up with any solid evidence, as applies in the case of the Meta story. Even if the removal of those posts was taken into consideration by the culprit, nonetheless, its lethal impact still stays on the internet and can be cited by other platforms for the convenience of their storylines. Not only this, but the reputation of the right-wing also come into jeopardy every time it gets used out of context. It still contributes in a heavily manipulative discourse.

Considering the right-wing consists of traditional-roots-believing persons, mostly, influential political entities; then the question arises, how is it so easy to twist the ears of the right-wing? Not just by domestic ridiculous puppets but also international influences. It has been witnessed in the representation of India on international news outlets very clearly. The winners of Pulitzer Prize 2022 in the category of feature photography were Adnan Abidi, Sanna Irshad Mattoo, Amit Dave and the late Danish Siddiqui of Reuters; the team was given the prize for them covering the horrors of the Indian Covid outburst. The photography presented a lopsided story of the Indian pandemic scene, only showcasing the lives lost, painting the Indian government as incompetent of handling the crisis, where in reality the nation was able to stand among the earliest trailblazers of the Covid-crisis recovery. In succession to the same, Sanna Mattoo, an extremist-separatist-leftist Kashmiri journalist, was when stopped at the IGI Delhi airport to receive the award because of her separatist ideals; she wasn’t questioned about her photography unabashedly painting Kashmiri security forces as rigid and oppressive, as well as catering to free Kashmir from India, by netizens. Instead, the Indian ruling party was again targeted as the villain. The United State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said that they believe in the freedom of press, while other US as well as Indian news outlets questioned the government for their motives to stop the winner bringing home prestige. US Congressman, Adam Schiff said that these were “efforts to harass and silence the media”. Such was the blackened discourse of believing in the worst of the Indian government that blind-sighted extremists ignored to see the truth.

These are the manipulative strings the left-wing pulls time and time again, not only abusing the difference-of-opinions, but also breaching the boundaries of responsible journalism. What The Wire pulled, not once, but twice, is a crystal clear showcase of malicious intent, another attempt at pre-planned propaganda. Such extreme thoughts of leftist ideologies should be held accountable, which is apparent in the current case, where the news outlet has been filed an FIR against, by the wrongly-portrayed Amit Malviya, for having tarnished his reputation. The FIR goes on the basis of sections 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery with purpose of cheating), 469 (forgery for harming reputation), 471 (using a forged document as genuine), 500 (defamation) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Further, the house of the founder, Siddharth Varadarajan, has been searched by the Delhi police, taking away all of his electronic devices until the proceedings. What comes next would be idealistic if this case is successful in serving as a strict example of the consequences of building such ignorant, nonchalant narratives; however, that would be an extreme case of wishful thinking. The probable chances for leftist whistle-blowers to portray the deserved punishment would then become a mammoth of a political agenda issued by the government, wherein they fictitiously portray the governing body as oppressors of the media’s freedom of speech. This never-ending cycle of malignity keeps running, and the question we need to put forward is- when will they be held rightfully accountable?