(ISSUED ON September 11, 2020)
Welcome to FIJ’s English FactChecks Report vol.17. This weekly report comes in two parts, consisting of Fact-checks at a glance and Announcements & News.
① Newschecker.in | India (2020/09/08)
Misleading: The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Canada, Japan, and the United States contracts more than India.
Explanation: A viral tweet claiming that the GDP of Canada, Japan, and the United States contracted more than that of India in the April – June quarter was found to be misleading due to its faulty comparison of countries using different methods of calculating GDP growth, especially in India and the US.
Read the full article here.
② Taiwan FactCheck Center | Taiwan (2020/09/07)
False: Xi Jinping’s daughter performed a song at Harvard’s commencement.
Explanation: A viral video purportedly showing Xi Mingze, the daughter of the Chinese President Xi, singing at a commencement ceremony at Harvard University during her time there from 2012 to 2014 turns out to be a clip of a Japanese singer, Nishida Hikaru, singing on a TV show.
Read the full article here (in Mandarin).
③ InFact | Japan (2020/09/06)
Fabrication: Taiwan’s air defense system shot down a Chinese fighter jet
Explanation: A viral twitter post reporting that Taiwan’s Air Force system shot down a Chinese fighter jet shot while the pilot escaped safely was denied outright by Taiwan’s Ministry of Defence. Media close to the Chinese government also later covered the denials.
Read the full article here (in Japanese).
Check out the IFCN’s #CoronaVirusFacts Alliance database of 5,000+ fact-checks from more than 70 countries on the novel coronavirus. Other themes of factcheck can be found on each organization’s website.
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Hope you stay well,
FIJ English team.
