New Delhi: The US-based Poynter Institute for Media Studies has withdrawn its controversial list of over 500 websites “spreading false or misleading information” after it created a furore around the world for including some bona fide, trusted media portals.
The list included three Indian websites: Firstpost, Indiatimes and Postcard news.
In a statement issued Thursday, Poynter.org managing editor Barbara Allen said they had found “weaknesses” in their methodology.
Allen claimed that the list was meant “to provide a useful tool for readers to gauge the legitimacy of the information they were consuming”.
However, soon after the list was published, she added, Poynter received complaints from those named as well as readers expressing objection to the inclusion of certain sites and the exclusion of others.
“We began an audit to test the accuracy and veracity of the list, and while we feel that many of the sites did have a track record of publishing unreliable information, our review found weaknesses in the methodology,” she said.
“We detected inconsistencies between the findings of the original databases that were the sources for the list and our own rendering of the final report,” Allen added. “Therefore, we are removing this unreliable sites list until we are able to provide our audience a more consistent and rigorous set of criteria,” the note said, apologising “for the confusion and agitation caused by its publication”.
‘Flippant’ survey
The first draft of the list had 515 names, including the three Indian websites. However, Firstpost was removed in less than 24 hours after it took to Twitter to strongly object to its inclusion in the list.
1/n, that this survey sidesteps, and, indeed, flippantly ignores the daily journalism that Firspost hosts, or the reputation it has gathered for equipoise, is unfortunate.
— Firstpost (@firstpost) May 1, 2019
Indiatimes issued a statement Thursday afternoon, saying it “stands by its content”. After the list was withdrawn Friday, it thanked readers for “your continued support”.
Dear reader, on April 30, @Poynter – a journalism non profit – put out a list on what they claimed were 500 odd unreliable websites. @Indiatimes was wrongly featured in it. We felt there were huge gaps in their methodology, and questioned the veracity of their report. (1/2) https://t.co/8gY72GMBaF
— Indiatimes (@indiatimes) May 3, 2019
There was no response from Postcard News, whose editor Mahesh Vikram Hegde has been linked with the propagation of fake news more than once.
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