2017 will go down as another year that saw a steady decline of trust and confidence in mainstream media. This was a year when mainstream media gave tough competition to social media in originating and circulating fake news. Alt News brings you a roundup of the most telling instances where mainstream media was caught reporting fake news. In the race to be the first to break news, fact-check is the first victim. But it is not always about haste. The year also saw the more sinister variety of agenda-driven fake stories circulated by mainstream media.

Here are the top 10 fake stories circulated by mainstream media in 2017. From lazy journalism failing to do basic fact-checking to agenda driven deliberate planted stories, you will find it all here. Look out for the repeat offenders, look out for the patterns, and look out for how a fake narrative is being pushed to shape public opinion.

1. Republic TV: Jama Masjid in dark due to non-payment of electricity bills over four crores

The news on Republic TV about Jama Masjid being in dark due to non-payment of electricity bills will make it to any top ten list of fake news. This was fake news that originated from various Hindutva handles and Postcard News, a renowned fake news website. Republic TV sent a fact finding team to the site, which snooped around outside Imam Bukhari’s residence counting cars and recording their make but didn’t ring the bell to verify if the story was true. It also did not occur to the team to ask those around whether the mosque is usually lit at night and what time the lights are normally switched off at night. Funnily the reporter pointed out to a lit board at the gate but it didn’t occur to him how the board could be lit when the electricity was cut off. On the basis of this so-called investigation, ignoring the clarifications tweeted by BSES, Republic TV broke the news about BSES giving a jolt to Jama Masjid due to non-payment of over four crores. The fake news was exposed by Alt News in its article after which the channel quietly deleted its tweet and video without any apology or explanation.

2. Aaj Tak: Fatwa in Saudi Arabia that men can eat their wives if hungry

Aaj Tak deserves full marks for falling for a story that is so screamingly fake. The “story” carried by India Today’s Hindi channel had its origins in a satirical column by a Moroccan blogger and was quashed in 2015 by Daily O, a website owned by none other than India Todayitself. The less said about this so-called newsbreak the better but it does leave us wondering about the motives of Aaj Tak behind circulating such obviously fake stories. You can read more about this fake news in this Alt News article.

3. Times Now: Conversion rate card unearthed in Kerala

Times Now anchors screaming their lungs out over a seven year-old photoshopped image was absolutely hilarious. Here was WhatsApp journalism at its best. “I can’t even begin to tell you ladies and gentlemen the kind of insidious fine print that is on this rate card, to convert Hindus. A Hindu Brahmin girl – five lakhs, seven lakh rupees for a Sikh Punjabi gal, for a Gujarati Brahmin and so on and so forth, Hindu Khastriya gal – four and a half lakhs, Hindu OBC/SC/ST – two lakhs, Buddhist girl – one and a half lakh, a Jain girl 3 lakh rupees, the caliphate has put a price on your faith.” Read out Rahul Shivshankar from a photoshopped image that has not only been doing the rounds on WhatsApp for years but was also debunked years ago. Read more about this fake rate card that made it to a Prime Time show on national television here.

Times Now referred to Kasargod in Kerala as India’s Gaza. With phrases like “in this hub of ISIS activity”, we leave it to the readers to figure out the agenda behind this story.

4. Times of India: CPM cyber warriors troll Australian cricketer Tom Moody after Moody’s upgrades India’s ratings

Mocking Kerala continues to be high on the agenda. Trolls in the state with the highest literacy confuse cricketer Moody with rating agency Moody’s? Oh really Times of India? A careful look at the story and its source should have given you a hint about the chances of it being true but instead of doing that, Times of India carried the story on the front page of its Kochi edition. Meanwhile RSS supporters who had impersonated the comrades to comment on Tom Moody’s Facebook post were now posting the link of Times of India article mocking CPM. As the true story unfolded on social media, it was clearly Times of India that had became the laughing stock. Needless to say, the newspaper did not acknowledge its error despite the uproar on social media.

5. Zee News, ABP: Dawood Ibrahim’s assets worth 15,000 crores seized in UAE Nothing excites Indian media more than news about Dawood, even when it is unsubstantiated. With another round of state elections around the corner, it was the turn of Zee News to drop the D-word. Hold your breath, the source was not UAE…