I was shocked to see such shoddy journalism from @the_hindu. They spun a 3-month-old *open-access* paper into a "secret" conspiracy theory, without even requesting a statement from the authors! The report, even the headline, contained many false statements. 
A science journalist would have read the paper and spoken to the authors, rather indulging in speculation in the midst of a public health crisis. As @NCBS_Bangalore was not given a chance to respond, we have issued a clarification, covered by @1amnerd.
thewire.in/the-sciences/c…
thewire.in/the-sciences/c…
This thread explains the facts, and shows precisely how flawed the original report was. @the_hindu has been sent a formal statement from NCBS, but they are yet to issue a correction.
This is the full NCBS press statement:
No rules were broken? @the_hindu broke a dozen rules of journalistic ethics. No correction or apology yet.
