Viral videos

Last week our columnist Prabhu Dayal wrote a humorous account of the current trend in guzzling digital content from social media sites as though it was the Ultimate Truth. He called it Whatsapp University-and satirized out how the deluge of fake news flooding Facebook, Twitter or X and other platforms gets to the best of us, often making it difficult for us to separate information from misinformation.

The gullible amongst us are wont to believe almost anything we see or hear and are often oblivious to the fact that these are emanating from dubious sources. Yes, even if it is a two-second Insta reel professing that the dancing cat in the video is real.
I confess to being rather naive myself and tend to trust the audio visual clips, with limitations of course. No, I did not think that the tomcat with bulging biceps doing pushups was actually the pet of the duo recording the video, the voiceover claiming that it has special powers.

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But dozens of “tips” on a range of things like “How to live like a billionaire without working hard” or “How to be healthy while gorging on junk food” are irresistibly attractive and I find myself falling prey to these promises. “How stupid” friends and family smirk. Okay, okay, guilty as charged.

However, the extent of how damaging the plethora of videos flooding the Internet can be suddenly struck me when I saw a clip, delivered in an authoritative baritone by a reassuring voice after the death of the legendary singer Asha Bhonsle earlier this week which was doing the rounds on Whatsapp and Youtube.

It repeatedly showed an image of George Harrison of the legendary 1960s band Beatles standing with Ashaji and her children as the voiceover narrated the details of her first marriage to an abusive husband.

I was aghast. Harrison and Bhonsle, both musical geniuses, had met and collaborated andthe photograph was clearly from that time.The meeting took place in 1968 when Harrison cameto Mumbai, then Bombay to record songs for a film. He of course was enamored of Indian classical music and was a devotee and disciple of the legendary sitarist Ustad Ravi Shakar.
The creators of the video carelessly tossed the photograph into the footage without bothering to verify its authenticity.

I was once invited by a media school to teach a course in online journalism. The students asked whether in the day and age of social media when news can travel instantaneousl what was the need for journalists.”Anyone can upload information, Maam, said a bright young boy. “If I have a camera phone, I can record any event and upload it on social media.”
“That’s precisely the problem,” I said. “While anyone can digitally upload content within a matter literally of seconds, a journalist needs to establish the credibility of the content.

The difference between online journalism and social media is that the former verifies the content (through a range of means such as interviews. investigations, etc) while the latter is largely unverified and therefore unreliable. Even if the information is true or correct, the less gullible would not be fooled by it.The catchy cat videos doing the rounds today of course are not meant to be taken seriously. They are hilarious but claims that these are pets with special powers do need to be taken with a pinch of salt. The sugarcoated versions of untruths too need to be scrutinized.

It is appalling that political parties, especially during election season, indulge in negative campaigns against rivals using digital media. It is often vicious and often these vicious videos go viral.I have been told by a politician who had earlier been an actress that she had to grow a thick skin after she entered politics. “Initially I was horrified by the untruths that were being spread about me and I realized that a lot of common people did believe these lies. I was at the receiving end of a volley of untruths in the film industry too but it was not as vicious.” I, ever gullible, believe in the adage, “Truth will be out”. For now, at least the dancing cats are out of the bag.

(The writer is Editor. Feature)