icon bookmark-bicon bookmarkicon cameraicon checkicon chevron downicon chevron lefticon chevron righticon chevron upicon closeicon v-compressicon downloadicon editicon v-expandicon fbicon fileicon filtericon flag ruicon full chevron downicon full chevron lefticon full chevron righticon full chevron upicon gpicon insicon mailicon moveicon-musicicon mutedicon nomutedicon okicon v-pauseicon v-playicon searchicon shareicon sign inicon sign upicon stepbackicon stepforicon swipe downicon tagicon tagsicon tgicon trashicon twicon vkicon yticon wticon fm
15 Jan, 2020 12:05

‘Verify the source’: Pakistani actress calls out journalist for using movie clip as ‘evidence’ of people refusing polio drops

‘Verify the source’: Pakistani actress calls out journalist for using movie clip as ‘evidence’ of people refusing polio drops

Pakistani movie star Mehwish Hayat has set the record straight after a clip from one of her films was used by a journalist to suggest that a mother had refused to allow her children to be vaccinated for polio.

Journalist and author Tarek Fatah caught the attention of Twitter after posting a clip which appeared to show a woman quarreling with volunteers who had offered polio drops to her children.

“Pakistani mother slams the door shut in the face of Polio workers. Screams at the two female volunteers: ‘I will never ever allow my children to take these drops’,” the Pakistan-Canadian writer wrote in his tweet.

His provocative post quickly came under scrutiny from eagle-eyed social media users. Responding to Fatah, Hayat noted that the footage was in fact from one of her films, ‘Load Wedding’. She urged the journalist to “verify the source” before making such claims.

“The polio worker is me & that woman an actress. Through the film we were raising awareness of the issue. Glad 2 see our performances were so convincing,” she added.

Her clarification received nearly 6,000 retweets and more than 17,000 likes. Fatah deleted his original post, but doesn’t appear to have explained the cause of his grievous reporting error.

Also on rt.com Pakistan calls on Facebook to block anti-vax propaganda amid ‘mass hysteria,’ spate of gun attacks

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!

Podcasts
0:00
26:13
0:00
24:57