Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
Claim
Journalist Rishi Dhamala apologised to Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane for his past mistakes.
Fact
No, the video actually shows journalist Dhamala delivering a speech at CAFODAT College.
A video allegedly showing famous Nepali journalist Rishi Dhamala apologising to Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane is going viral on TikTok.
TikTok user @devbohara00 posted a video showing journalist Rishi Dhamala delivering a speech. Text superimposed on the video reads, “Rishi Dhamala apologised to Rabi Lamichhane and said, I won’t make a mistake from now on Rabi Ji, I am also a human being.” In his speech, Dhamala is heard saying, “I might have made mistakes in the past, I am not a god but a human being. I have made an announcement and commitment from today. I won’t make a mistake from today. It is easier said than done. But he keeps smiling, look at his face.” The video also shows visuals of Rabi Lamichhne apparently attending the same event.
The video posted on June 16 has garnered 3743 likes, 96 users have shared it and 211 people have commented until the time of publishing this article.
The archived version of the TikTok video can be seen here.
Newschecker found the claim to be misleading.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the veracity of the claim made in the viral video, Newschecker closely observed the video and noticed the logo of Right Sanchar on the top right corner of the screen. Taking a clue, we searched YouTube for the channel named ‘Right Sanchar’ and found a video, dated June 15, 2024, posted on the channel. On checking the channel, we found that the video showed Dhamala delivering a lecture to a group of students. However, we didn’t find any clips showing Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane attending the event.
We, then, checked the other videos published in the channel and found that the channel regularly publishes unverified and unrelated videos with sensational titles.
Further, we ran a search on YouTube by using relevant keywords and found a video, dated June 15, 2024 published on the YouTube channel whose frame matched the viral video. On checking the video thoroughly, we found that the video clip from 5.17-minute onwards exactly matched the viral video. However, the video shows clips of Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane in attendance at the event. The video title suggested that journalist Dhamala was speaking at an event organised by CAFODAT (College of Applied Food and Dairy Technology) College. We can also hear him say that after arriving in college he has made a resolution not to make any mistakes in life.
Thus, our findings clearly show that the viral video showed journalist Dhamala delivering a speech at CAFODAT College in Kathmandu.
Conclusion
No, the video doesn’t show Journalist Dhamala apologising to Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane. He was actually announcing his resolution not to make any mistakes in the future at the college. Thus, the claim made in the viral video is misleading.
Result: False
Sources
Prime Times HD/YouTube, June 15, 2024
Right Sanchar/YouTube , June 15, 2024
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Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
