On the night May 8, 2025, with military tensions between India and Pakistan escalated to levels not seen in decades, the Indian mainstream media resorted to widespread reporting of unverified and false information around the conflict.
Blaring sounds of sirens and computer generated videos of explosions all over the screen, news channels aired entirely false claims of India destroying Karachi Port, attacking Lahore, capturing Islamabad and forcing the Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to surrender, adding an internal military coup to the mix. Sometime before Thursday midnight, mainstream news channels had also declared that India had destroyed Pakistan and taken over their neighbour—all on live TV.
BOOM verified the claims made by news outlets and found rampant misreporting, with many claims even fully fabricated. We also spoke to journalists and locals in Pakistan to verify some claims and found the situation on ground did not match the version of Indian news channels.
"Indian Navy destroys Karachi Port"
Amidst reports, some real time, of airstrikes and blackouts in many areas of Jammu, Gujarat and Punjab, a viral WhatsApp forward claims the Indian Naval Ship (INS) Vikrant had reached Lahore (a city with no seashore). This message was soon replaced with another claiming INS Vikrant had reached Karachi and since "destroyed it" with BOOM also receiving a post on its tipline number.
Within minutes, the same claim of INS Vikrant in Karachi started flashing on news channels, with many adding a 'Breaking News' alert to the same. Many channels soon added a video claiming they showed visuals from the said naval attack on Karachi.
Using the same video, a few media outlets supported another fake claim that the Karachi Port has been destroyed. Zee News, AajTak, LokmatHindi, and News Nation made the fake claim with India Today dedicating an entire segment titled, “Indian Navy attacks Karachi for the first time since 1971.”
We reached out Pakistani news outlet Dawn.com's deputy editor Zahrah Mazhar who dismissed the claims mentioned above as "outlandish." Mazhar, who is based in Karachi, added that her team investigated the claim with sources and local reporters in the regions, and found no indication of an attack on Karachi.
Many Bangla outlets also ran a video showing vehicular and airplane debris as visuals of Karachi under attack. BOOM found that the video was from a January 31, 2025 crash in Philadelphia, United States. We also reached out to the Karachi Port Trust's Public Relations office, who said the port was functioning normally with no hint of any naval attack.
"Islamabad Captured, Shehbaz Sharif Surrenders"
News outlets like CNN News18 and OneIndia and the extreme right-wing outlet Sudarshan News reported that the Indian forces had moved to attacking Islamabad. All the while showing graphics of tanks and blast and air strikes and missiles cutting through the screen.
They soon added another fake piece to this, claiming drones from India had struck Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's house with Zee News adding "Sharif has surrendered.".
BOOM was unable to find any official confirmation from either Indian or Pakistani authorities on such a surrender or on drone strikes on Sharif's house. We also did not find a single international media outlet reporting that the prime minister of Pakistan had surrendered amidst a military conflict.
"From May 7, when the strikes (Operation Sindoor) happened we have been talking to our reporters in Islamabad. And we did check up with them again (on May 8) and there were no reports to even suggest that it may have happened, or that it was currently in the process of happening," Mazhar noted.
On the unverified claims of Shehbaz Sharif hiding in a bunker, she added, "We did reached out to our contacts within the government and those within his party and there was no such thing."
Pak Military Coup, Pak Army Chief Detained
While news channels claimed India had attacked several major cities in Pakistan including its capital, media websites started a breaking alert on an internal military coup in Pakistan.
Mathrubhumi, DNA, OneIndia and Great Andhra were among the news outlets to publish articles claiming Asim Munir, Chief of the Army Staff, Pakistan had resigned and was to be replaced by General Sahir Shamshad Mirza.
The claim was also made on live news by Zee News Telugu and ABP News also reported live on TV that Munir has been detained.
All without quoting a single source from either country.
BOOM found no verified information supporting the coup or the arrest. Mazhar said they too had not found any indication of a coup happening, or of Munir's dismissal.
While there were actual reports of explosions heard near Jaisalmer, media outlets ABP News, One India, News18, Aaj Tak and NDTV aired a video showing Israel's Iron Dome defence system intercepting drones - and reported it as India intercepting drones above Jaisalmer.
The Ministry of External Affairs in a joint press briefing with the forces too did not mention any information on a Naval attack by India. Additionally they also did not mention that Shehbaz Sharif had surrendered to India or that Asim Munir had been dismissed as Pakistan's chief of army staff. Neither of the official statements from either side mentioned any attack on Islamabad or Karachi.
The MEA also alleged that Pakistan used civilian flights as shields by keeping the civilian airspace open during the attacks. Meanwhile Pakistan has denied attacking India with drones.
