Express Tribune deletes stories on Karsaz road accident in Karachi

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team has reviewed this content and determined that it is true.

To reach this conclusion, the iVerify Pakistan team conducted a keyword search and reviewed web links of news stories from Express Tribune to corroborate the matter.

A user on social media platform X on August 21, 2024, claimed that leading news outlet Express Tribune deleted its news stories on the Karsaz traffic accident in Karachi which claimed two lives. This was true and the outlet did take down its three stories on the incident.

The accident occurred on August 19 on Karsaz Road when a speeding SUV driven by the woman killed two people and injured three others. The woman, driving a Toyota Land Cruiser, allegedly hit multiple motorcycles before overturning after colliding with a parked car. Two of the injured victims later died at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC). The police registered a case against the woman on murder charges and arrested her.

A court granted the police one-day custody of the suspect on August 20, who was then admitted to JPMC’s psychiatry department for treatment. The police emphasised all throughout that they were following legal procedures and that no one was above the law. The incident has aroused public outrage with rumours of an abuse of power to protect the suspect who allegedly belongs to an influential family.

HOW IT STARTED

On August 21, a user who described themselves as a digital marketer on X shared a screenshot of website links to news stories of Express Tribune on the Karsaz incident with the claim: “All three stories about Karsaz accident deleted by Express Tribune. They don’t care about press freedom when it comes to the rich and elite.”

The post gained over 22,000 views.

Other users also shared a similar claim about Express Tribune taking down its stories. They also alleged that Ary News took down their stories too as can be seen here and here.

METHODOLOGY

A fact check was initiated to verify the claim due to its virality, widespread public interest in the traffic accident and an alarming allegation against two major media organisations at the same time.

A keyword search conducted to check for news stories from Express Tribune showed three stories coming up in the results.

The three headlines read, “Woman driver of SUV charged over fatal Karsaz road”, “SUV accident on Karachi’s Karsaz road claims lives of” and “Woman crushes man, daughter under SUV”.

Up until 2:30pm on August 21, clicking on all three links led to a broken web page saying, “Page not found.”

However, no such issues were faced in accessing other news articles on the outlet’s website which were opening and loading normally.

Similarly, a keyword search for reports from Ary News yielded links on the incident with the headlines of “Watch: Speeding car runs over six people at Karsaz road” and “Karsaz accident: Police reveals identity of prime suspect”.

Up until 2:30pm on August 21, the two links redirected to a news article on gold rates in Pakistan and showed no coverage of the Karsaz accident.

Similar to Express Tribune, other reports from Ary News also opened and loaded fine. Thus, it was not the case of a website error or server issue preventing stories from being viewed or loading on the two websites.

Moreover, no visuals, posts, videos, or shares regarding the incident were found on their social media profiles.

The iVerify Pakistan team also reached out to various officials from the two media outlets seeking an explanation or corroboration about the stories being taken down but was not given a response.

FACT CHECK STATUS: TRUE

The claim regarding Express Tribune and ARY News removing their news stories covering the Karsaz traffic accident that claimed two lives is true.

The two media outlets did indeed retract their coverage as their previous links on the incident either redirected to a broken web page or a different article as of 4:14pm on August 21.

Evidence and References

Link of redirected Ary News story:
https://perma.cc/SWZ3-HJS3

Broken link of Express Tribune news story:
https://perma.cc/8P9Q-ZX9G

Broken link of Express Tribune news story:
https://perma.cc/2HYG-94PQ

Broken link of Express Tribune news story:
https://perma.cc/QC9R-8XZQ