English daily The Times of India Group and the Dainik Bhaskar Group have launched an initiative titled Kaun Banega, Kaun Banayega—a series of films to highlight fake news and educate readers on the importance of reading the newspaper.
The campaign featuring Cyrus Broacha uses humour to tackle the problem of fake news. Two films out of the seven-video series got a positive response from social media with over 2.9 million views. The campaign ended with a whopping 4.3 million views across all seven films.
Rest of the videos:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChSOe-xjiMuV42jphH7jD5Q/videos
Sivakumar Sundaram, President, Revenue, BCCL, said, “Fake news is a modern-day malaise brought on by social media. It ranges from the silly to grave ‘forwards’ that have repercussions that affect the social, economic and cultural fabric of nations. As gatekeepers of the truth and as a leading newspaper company, The Times of India takes on the responsibility of educating people on the need to follow real news and not forwards. This is being done in an engaging and humorous manner through a series of films titled Kaun Banega, Kaun Banayega. We are happy to partner with the Dainik Bhaskar Group to jointly drive this initiative.”
Newspapers have historically been considered as the most credible source of news. Multiple studies across time have revealed that consumers consider what appears in print to be the truth. Even in today’s digital age, sensible people wait for the newspaper the next morning to verify the news they get on forwards. This is because newspaper brands follow a stringent process of verifying news and sources before it gets printed. A large team of journalists work endlessly to delivery authentic news to the best of their ability.
Girish Agarwal, Promoter, Director, Dainik Bhaskar Group, said, “Sharing a common responsibility, two of the largest media houses in the country have decided to come together to spread awareness on the menace of fake news. We will continue to work together on this issue and others of citizen and national importance.”
The campaign has been conceptualised by integrated digital communications agency Jack in the Box Worldwide.
Axon Alex, Managing Partner, Jack in the Box Worldwide, said, “Fake news perpetuated through forwards is more dangerous than ever before today. While the problem is being talked about aplenty in a serious tone, we deliberately took another approach to drive the relevance and importance of the printed newspaper in delivering truth. We wanted to shine the spotlight on regular people using the quiz show format where such forwards are the last thing you should rely on and those who do, look very silly to both the host Cyrus Broacha and the viewer. The question at the end of every film, “Where do you get your news from?” is for the viewer to introspect on. Their answer decides if they are just as silly or well informed.”