How damaging is fake news?

By Sunny Dua
Indian Newspaper Society must be jubilant over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to turn down Information and Broadcasting (I&B) ministry’s stringent guidelines to check fake news and why shouldn’t they be as this decision was nothing but media gagging. However, there has to be an authority or mechanism to check this menace of fake news especially when it comes to deal with situations in sensitive states like Jammu and Kashmir and North East where smallest of unpleasant incidents trigger unrest that keeps on rolling till damages reach no point of return.
Curb on media or censorship was definitely not a good idea but the victim of this ‘fake news’ is none other than ‘news’ itself which is produced by registered and recognised newspapers and TV channels after day’s hard work and sometimes even after walking on razor’s edge. Other than ‘fake news’ a whole lot of ‘fake journalists’ too need a check for they bring bad name to the profession. The journalists need to rise to the occasion and dump rumourmongers, who without wasting any time generate or forward whatever they get without caring for its repercussions or even checking authenticity of information they get on their handy phones.
Worth comes when half-baked journalists produce, recycle or even report news with prejudice and without caring about the fact that news actually means brining information to public as it happens, when it happens and where it happens. Still worst is when opinions are added to news and put in public domain. This blend becomes more lethal and many a time creates situation that could have been avoided by just keeping a check on its circulation or even production. Jammu and even Kashmir had many a time witnessed unrest because of fake news.
In some cases the district administration had reprimanded miners who dig fake new for circulations and getting likes or pats for being first. But since the disease is chronic, ailing ones need to undergo the knife. In such cases, PCI, National Broadcasting Association (NBA) or the Editors Guild can play a great role. However, PCI is yet to emerge out of its internal issues that had cropped up after new faces were taken onboard during reconstitution by its Chairman. Once the issue is settled, the first and foremost task should be to take to task ‘fake news’ miners.
It was only last week that a Whatsapp group run by photojournalist Inderjeet Singh working in J&K State got pictures of Himachal Pradesh number bus fallen into a deep gorge in his group. It stated that accident occurred in Jammu. Before it could have been too late, the administrator of the group deleted ‘fake news’ and removed the rumourmonger leaving rest of the fraternity relieved. This small incident if circulated without applying mind could have caused unrest amongst people but a stitch in time saved nine.
A similar kind of incident involving school bus of Gareeb Nawaz Academy, Manjakote was reported having met with an accident last year in which 40 children were feared dead. The incident (Fake News) had created panic in entire border districts of Poonch and Rajouri and multiple agencies were pressed into service to respond to fake emergency situation. However, Deputy Commissioner Rajouri, Shahid Iqbal Choudhary had set the rumours at rest by confirming and saying, ‘the bus reported falsely by media of having met with an accident has reached its destination safely. No such accident took place in the district’. A magisterial probe was also ordered but its outcome is still not known.
The way law stops newspersons from revealing identity of rape victims, there are certain news items that need to be broken to people but with sensitivity. In case of 2011 Mumbai attacks, running commentary of NSG Commandos rescuing people from hotel or nearby buildings was not taken in good taste even by a section of media who believed that giving locations and revealing strategies was not good. Similarly, while reporting from line of battle good and able journalists prefer to describe locations as ‘somewhere in north’. But then these can be understood by journalists who have either gained sufficient experiences about reporting from areas of conflict or have had a formal degree or diploma in journalism.
Fake News can be found on Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter and so many other websites that go unchecked. The sick minds who are out there to spread hatred stoop so low that even a street fight many a times is depicted as attack of one particular community on another.  Another issue is that of quickness. In order to be the first, number of casualties in news like that of air crash, militants’ attack  and natural disaster is exaggerated without confirmation and then at a later stage this fluctuating number either decreases or increases drastically. Why jump the gun when a reporter from the spot or government can confirm numbers? Meantime, the incident can be reported fairly.
Press Council of India, a statutory body that acts as a watchdog to oversee conduct of the print media will have to rise to the occasion to check fake news. The INS had also forced the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to withdraw what it called “stringent guidelines” on fake news but then it must tell who other than I&B ministry is going to check fake news and what mechanism it intends to adopt to get rid of this nuisance.
Unlike past when emergency was imposed or during British era when editorials used to be scrutinised before publications, we have complete freedom of press and any attempt to control it by any agency through any draconian guidelines also stands reverted today. After this what’s required is a check on fake news by an independent statutory body. Cancelling accreditation of journalists was no solution to check fake news as other than credible journalists a whole lot of non-accredited and half-baked journalists also manufacture news.
The issue is that of press accountability. Many a times editors regret errors made in news items and then come put with corrigendum but that’s something other than circulating fake news which is not only damaging but also creates havoc. Going by the previous dictate of government only a handful of journalists registered with Press Information Bureau (PIB) or State Information Departments were to come under scanner but ‘fake journalists’ who had come up with their multiple unregistered agencies could have gone unchecked.
It is at this stage that self-governing institutions like PCI, NBA or the Editors Guild must come out with a policy to check fake news which is manufactured, altered, reproduced or taken from data bank of other countries. News of protests in Palestine sometimes were circulated depicting protests going on in some parts of India and sometimes a porn movies is attributed to Indian actor. Some time back picture of a businessman from Talab Khatikan in Jammu was circulated as that of a militant. It was an error or the news was completely fake needs debate. However, the damage was done.  Fake news or poor reporting of these kinds not only damages social fabric but also causes states to spend millions in their damage control exercises.
Going by the definition of news, it’s a piece of information about current events that can be circulated through word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication or social media. But then this has to be authentic. It’s not that people are not news hungry but they crave for an authentic piece of information based on which they plan their lives. For example, a farmer can plan his cultivation based on authentic information about weather or a student can plan his studies abroad only after getting right information about H-1B visa.
We need credible news but an old proverb ‘no news is good news’ also holds true for many. To elaborate, it is said that someone feels less worried when he or she doesn’t receive any information about someone or something, because if something bad had happened, they would have been told about it. News is always going to have its takers whether authentic or fake but sooner we realise that ‘fake news’ needs to be filtered out the better it is. Otherwise also anything unusual like “Man Bites Dog” is news and “Dog Bites Man” is not.
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