Fact Check: Truth behind Congress claim of Arnab's post-attack video's 'metadata mismatch'

CLAIM: Metadata shows video shot before incident / Attackers t handed to Police

National Coordinator of Digital Communications and Social Media of Congress and ir leaning Twitter handles claimed metadata of Republic Media Network Editor-in-Chief Arnab's video mess suggested video was shot before attack on him and Republic TV Editor Samyabrata Ray. Take a look at this:  

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RATING - FALSE / FAKE NEWS

claim by top Congress functionaries falls apart as Mumbai Police was witness to Arnab recording video at parking lot of his residence post attack.

• An amateur reporter would do well to get official version from Mumbai Police which was present on spot.
• Fact that attackers were jointly nabbed by Mumbai Police Protection and Republic's security guard in tailing car has been igred.
•  Moreover, an amateur fact-checker will kw how to adjust time zones when checking for metadata. tweets are drafted to confuse and make it appear like video was shot earlier. Read on:

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METADATA FACTS:

1. Metadata2Go.com is a free online tool that allows you to access  metadata of your files.
2. URL shared on social media of data is: https://www.metadata2go.com/result/A3aad539-65c4-4452-b344-d59b932be59d
3. Under 'TAGS' Creation Time is 20:17:11.000000Z (screenshot shared)
   
4. 000000Z indicates Zulu Time Zone which is GMT time zone (00:00) and IST is +5:30.
5. If you convert Time in JavaScript, it will show you time in IST which is 1:47:11 am

Some users were also quick to correct facts for Congress.

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Ar claim that people were tweeting out in support of Arnab, before incident was anunced on Republic, is also false. screenshots claimed that Republic had anunced incident on Twitter at 1:06 am, while Patra and Pandit tweeted about it before.

Truth is, attack was anunced on Republic TV at least 40 minutes before tweet was made. screenshot below shows attack being anunced on ticker at 12:35 am, during a replay of Debate.

ATTACK CHROLOGY:  

• 12:15 am: Arnab & Samyabrata attacked by Youth Congress goons
• 12:18 am: Arnab & Samyabrata arrive at parking lot of ir residence
• 12:25 am: Mumbai Police Protection team arrives, informs Arnab of attackers' identities
• 12:35 am: Police Inspector from NM Joshi Marg Station arrives, gets briefed by Mumbai Police Protection team
• Around 1 am: DCP Abhinash Kumar arrives, also gets briefed by Mumbai Police Protection team
• 1:25 am: Arnab records a video mess in English
• 1:38 am: Video mess is shared, uploaded on social media
• 3:30 am: Arnab arrives at NM Joshi Marg Police Station after confirmation from DCP
• 6:55 am: Complaint finally signed and accepted by Mumbai Police
• 10:15 am: FIR handed over to Republic TV team, mention of Youth Congress despite Mumbai Police Protection Team mention  

EDITORIAL TAKEAWAY:

To defend an attack on two journalists, it's despicable to go to extent of spinning conspiracies. 'Fact-checkers' better get some net practice on basics of garing facts, in this case, Mumbai Police was a call away. For those who continue to spread misinformation, fake news, and concocted propaganda, given that se facts are in public domain, a continued campaign of fakery is only a defence of violence.

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(Author of this article, Niranjan Narayanaswamy is Editor of Republic TV and was present at site when Arnab Goswami's video mess was shot, he was at Police Station when complaint was filed and received FIR in newsroom)