The challenge of disinformation in journalism and ways in which readers and journalists can fight the menace came to the fore at a discussion at the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai, on Tuesday.
A panel of experts in journalism debated on the topic ‘Editorial Leadership in an Age of Disinformation’ organised jointly by Media Development Foundation and the Consulate General of the United States.
In the discussion moderated by Sashi Kumar, Chairman of Media Development Foundation, Krishna Prasad, former Editor-in-Chief of Outlook, pointed out that disinformation has been a menace since the 1st century AD but there have been news organisations in the modern times that had fact-checkers before it published news articles.
However, there was a rush among many media organisations in recent times in the country that were eager to catch more eye balls, Mr. Prasad contended and underlined every journalist had the responsibility to remain aware of disinformation.
“Even a reader has the responsibility,” Mr. Prasad said.
Dan Shelley, Executive Director, Radio Television Digital News Association concurred with Mr. Prasad that the readers too had the responsibility and stressed that they should not depend on one source but multiple sources for news.
Elaborating on the impact of disinformation in journalism in the country, Pratik Sinha, Co-founder & Editor of Alt News also put a focus on the business model of journalism in the country.
Vested interests
Mr. Sinha also said governments used media organisations for their interests.
Mr. Sashi Kumar, who was playing the devil’s advocate during the panel discussion, asked whether there was time to fact check in the fast news cycle and Mr. Sinha said news organisations could produce quality news after checking facts.
To Mr. Kumar’s concern as to whether news organisations should be calling out among them over disinformation, Mr. Shelley said it was complicated but there have been pressure lobbies in the US over organisations that had put out disinformation.
Almost none of the media organisation has invested in credibility the way they have invested in profit making, contended Mr. Prasad, who also underlined the need to deal with the beast of the social media and all the information that it has.
He claimed that some news organisations themselves were involved in fabricating news.
The panel discussion was part of the Countering Disinformation in South India: A Regional Media Literacy Initiative organised by Asian College of Journalism and the Consulate General of the United States.
