Wire agency IANS published a story on a 2011 development in the 2G spectrum case as recent, which was also picked up by various news websites. While the story was published on several news websites through their syndicated automated feed, some websites edited the story but failed to notice the glaring error.
This news development took place in April 2011, but was republished in today's Times of India (TOI) as an advertorial, part of a marketing campaign by Oreo, a sandwich cookie brand, owned by Mondelez. For the campaign, TOI republished their first page of today's print edition as it appeared on Sunday, April 3, 2011.
The more than a decade old edition had also carried a story on the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filing its first chargesheet against former Union Telecom Minister A. Raja as part of its investigation into the infamous 2G spectrum scam. IANS published a fresh story giving similar details though they haven't referred to the TOI as a source.
Raja was acquitted by the court in 2017.
On April 3, 2011, the first page of TOI (which has been republished today) reported primarily on India winning the One Day World Cup in 2011.
On the second page of today's print edition, Oreo says - as part of the campaign - that the front page of today's TOI is not a mistake. It is deliberate as TOI is joining Oreo in relaunching the cookie brand, as when it first launched in 2011, India won the Cricket World Cup.
The next T20 World Cup will take place in Australia starting November.
The archived link of the story published on Business Standard's website can be found here. Below is the screenshot of the article carried by Deccan Herald.
News website DNA carried the news with its own byline (of its web desk). The link can be found here.
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All the accused including senior DMK leaders A Raja and Kanimozhi were acquitted by a special CBI court in December 2017.
Interestingly, the story carried by IANS, while reporting on a development that took place in 2011, on the initial chargesheets being filed against the accused by the CBI, also reports on the CBI special court acquitting the accused in 2017.
The 2G spectrum scam came to the fore when the Comptroller and Auditor General of India said in 2010 that 122 2G spectrum licenses were given to telecom operators at throwaway prices, without any due bidding process. The CAG had then claimed that this caused a loss of a staggering ₹1.76 lakh crores to the exchequer.
The Supreme Court scrapped the allotted licenses in 2012.
BOOM has reached out to IANS for a clarification. This story will be updated once we receive a reply.
