LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Thursday sought a public apology over the broadcast of what it described as an “agenda-driven fake news” targeting the character of national cricketers.
In a brief statement, the cricket board termed targeting the national cricketers’ character “unacceptable” and stressed that the reporter responsible for the aforementioned news must publicly apologise without delay.
The PCB further warned of taking “all necessary steps” if the journalist in question fails to comply with the demand.
“Agenda-driven fake news targeting the character of our players is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” the PCB’s statement read.
“The reporter must publicly apologise without delay; failing which, the PCB will take all necessary steps to ensure such malicious conduct is dealt with firmly and nipped in the bud,” it added.
The controversy erupted earlier today when a local news outlet claimed that the Pakistan cricketer was involved in inappropriate behaviour and that hotel staff had filed a formal complaint with the team management.
The report further alleged that the player was involved in inappropriate behaviour, prompting immediate action by the management to assess the matter.
Following a review of the details provided by the hotel and a preliminary investigation, the team management concluded that the Pakistan player had violated the code of conduct and imposed a fine on him.
The claims made in the report, however, were swiftly dismissed by the PCB and Mirza, who announced to take legal action against a local news outlet.
“A absurd News is circulating on media and I strongly condemn this sort of Cheap Journalism. Any Media House can’t air any unverified news,” said Mirza in a Facebook post.
“[Pakistan Cricket Board] has already denied this Baseless & Fake News and I’m going to take Legal Action […]”.
