Claim: A still video shows Geo News anchors kissing live on air.
Fact: The viral still video does not feature Geo News anchors or its newsroom. Geo’s logos were superimposed onto the visual, which appears to originate from another source.
On 29 April 2024, a still video (archive) showing two news anchors kissing during a broadcast was shared on Facebook with the following embedded text: “تو ملتے ہیں ایک بریک کے بعد
دا پاکستان دے”
[Translated from Urdu and Pashto: So see you after a break. This is Pakistan.]
The screen behind the anchors and the laptops in front of them carry logos of Geo News.
Geo News
Geo News, owned by Jang Media Group, is a well-known news channel in Pakistan. Established in 2002, it has a reputation for broadcasting breaking news in Urdu on a wide range of topics, including politics, sports, business, and entertainment. Also known for its talk shows featuring prominent journalists and experts, Geo News has a large viewership both domestically and among the Pakistani diaspora abroad.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check reverse-searched the still video and found that the image (archive) without Geo’s logos was shared on Facebook as early as October 2018. The image contains Arabic text:
“ولاد القحااااب عاااد فهمت لقضية تاع فاصل و تواصل”
[Translated from Arabic: “Sons of bitches, I understand the issue of separation and communication.]
Since then, the image has recirculated multiple times on Facebook, including in 2020 and 2022. While these posts lack context, one post (archive) shared on Facebook on 16 July 16, 2024, reads:
“موقف مخزي ومخجل.. شاهد اجمل مذيعة في قناة الأخبار العربية نسيت أنها على الهواء مباشرة وقامت بعمل صااااادم أمام ملاييين المشاهدين”
[Translated from Arabic: A disgraceful and shameful situation… Watch the most beautiful presenter on the Arab News Channel forget she was on air and do a shocking thing in front of millions of viewers.]
The image was subsequently shared on Facebook in August and September 2024 with similar captions here, here, and here. While these posts claim that the anchors are from an Arab news channel, we were unable to find the origin of the image.
We compared the background in the viral still video with recent stills from multiple Geo News live broadcasts and a side-by-side comparison of the two newsrooms reveals several differences. In the viral image, there are large blue screens with prominent Geo logos on both the left and right sides. However, in the still from an actual Geo News broadcast, a glass wall in the background of the anchors separates them from the wider newsroom. Multiple television screens are mounted overhead, and a cluster of desktops is visible below. On the left side of the image, we can see a wall featuring Pakistani flags.
While the anchors in the still video have laptops in front of them, Geo’s anchors use tablets or iPads with the news channel’s logo affixed to the base of their stands. In the viral video, however, the Geo logos appear very light, suggesting they were digitally edited and not displayed during the live broadcast.
Anchor Aleena Farooq Sheikh, who hosts a Geo News show called Report Card, confirmed to Soch Fact Check that the visual was “modified,” adding that, “This is clearly not Geo’s newsroom. For starters, our desk isn’t white, the laptops are outdated, and the seating arrangement doesn’t match our setup – Geo has never had anchors seated with someone behind them in the way.” While the viral still video shows two men seated behind the anchors with their backs towards the camera, a review of different Geo broadcast setups makes it clear that this is not how they arrange their broadcasts.
Sheikh emphasised the dangers of such fake or altered content, noting that while it may seem obvious to some, many people are still misled by such disinformation.
We also ran the two images through FotoForensics, a tool that analyses digital images to detect potential edits or tampering. One of the methods used, Error Level Analysis (ELA), highlights differences in compression across an image to identify inconsistencies that may indicate alterations.
In the ELA of the viral still video, the areas around the logos show higher brightness and distinct colour variations indicating a different compression level from the rest of the image. This suggests that the logos may have been superimposed on the original image, as any elements added later tend to compress differently and appear more prominently in an ELA.
Furthermore, a standalone image of the anchors without logos is available online. The image with Geo News’ logos is only accessible as a still video, suggesting that the logos may have been added in post-production, which raises additional questions about its authenticity.
Virality
The claim was shared here (archive) on Facebook.
It was shared here, here, here, here, here, and here on Instagram.
Conclusion: While Soch Fact Check could not independently verify the origin of the image, we can confirm that it does not feature Geo News’ anchors or its newsroom. The claim that the still video shows Geo’s anchors kissing on air is false.
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Background image in cover photo: Geo News English
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