Alt News co-founders Pratik, Zubair, author Harsh Mander among favourites to win Nobel for Peace
NEW DELHI,OCT 5: Fact-checking website Alt News co-founders Pratik Sinha and Mohammad Zubair are among the favourites to win the Nobel Peace Prize this year. The two Indian journalists have been nominated by Norwegian lawmakers to win the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize.
The shortlist released by director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) also has in its list of contenders author and activist Harsh Mander and his campaign, the Karwan-e-Mohabbat.
Sinha and Zubair have been nominated for “battling misinformation”, methodologically debunking rumors and fake news circulating on social media, and calling out hate speech through their fact-checking website. This year, among many world leaders and politicians, the two Indian journalists have also made the cut to be the favourites to win the prestigious award.
There are about 343 candidates – 251 are individuals and 92 are organizations – in the running for the Nobel Peace Prize for 2022. The winner of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on October 7 in Oslo.
Mohammed Zubair is an Indian journalist and the co-founder of Alt News, an Indian non-profit fact-checking website. He made headlines on June 27, 2022, when he was arrested by the Delhi Police for his four-year-old tweet. The Delhi Police charged him for inciting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and deliberate acts to outrage religious sentiments.
His arrest was condemned by journalists around the world, as the Editors Guild of India in a statement on June 28 stated, “It is apparent that AltNews’ alert vigilance was resented by those who use disinformation as a tool to polarize the society and rake nationalist sentiments.” Zubair was granted bail nearly a month later, on July 20 by the Supreme Court.
Alt News was founded by Pratik Sinha, a former software engineer. Pratik Sinha became interested in exposing fake news when he began working with his activist parents in India.
Harsh Mander is a social activist and former IAS Officer, who resigned after the 2002 Gujarat Riots, with his campaign Karwan-e-Mohabbat (Caravan of Love),. He has been listed in the shortlist of Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) for the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize this year.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee will announce the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to people “who have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.”
Belarusian opposition politician Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, British nature broadcaster David Attenborough, the World Health Organization, environmental activist Greta Thunberg, Pope Francis, Tuvalu’s foreign minister Simon Kofe, and Myanmar’s National Unity government are few other nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Among the favourites for the peace prize are Ukraine President Volodomyr Zelenskyy, The UN Refugee Agency, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Russian dissenter and Vladimir Putin critic Alexey Navalny.
-PTI
