Money will be Dropped from Helicopters during Lockdown; Govt. Questions Claims made by Kannada News Channel

A Kannada news channel received notice from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) on Thursday for broadcasting a programme that hinted that the centre will be dropping money from helicopters during Lockdown period in order to help the poor people. 

The Notice claimed that the channel was spreading misinformation and creating panic and social unrest. It also called the show, “false, mischievous and deliberate.” 

A twitter user brought this reportage to the notice of Prakash Javedkar, the minister of Information and Broadcasting.  The fact check team of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) responded to the claim.

According to a report from The Wire, the notice instructed the channel to take the report out of air immediately and instructed them to reply to the notice within ten days of receipt of the notice. “When the whole country is fighting COVID-19, your channel, instead of creating awareness and educating the public, spreading false information, creating panic and social unrest,” reads the notice. 

The management reacted to the notice saying that the programme has been viewed in “bits and pieces.” The channel claims that the central focus of the programme was about the economic concept called ‘helicopter money’. 

As per the report published by The News Minute on this issue, it is unclear if the channel claimed that the government would drop money from helicopters.