A workshop was conducted for Digital media journalists on Challenges in the New age of Digital Journalism, at Cyberabad Police Commissionerate by Cyberabad police, along with , Telangana State Police Centre of Excellence for Cyber Safety (TSPCC) .
The objective of the workshop was to enable digital media journalists to improve the credibility of news they put up, equip them with tools to do fact-checking to ensure the validity of information before they publish it and understand how to identify and differentiate between misinformation, misinformation and disinformation. They were enlightened on cyber domain laws that is applicable to them, cautioned of the consequences of reporting half-baked news and sensitized the mental well-being challenges that comes with their profession.
The workshop began with opening remarks by Ritiraj DCP Cybercrimes, Cyberabad who set the tone for the workshop. Anil Rachmalla then introduced the topic and explained the gravity of the problem we faced because of lack of guidance to digital media journalists.
Mr. Soma Shekhar who used to work with The Hindu earlier, emphasized on the difference between perception creation and news, which journalists have to be careful of. He said there are people who earn money for peddling untruth, but whether it is done with malicious intent or not, it can lead to serious consequences like communal riots, law and order situations, murders, destruction of property etc.
Commissioner of Police, Cyberabad Mr. Stephen Raveendra,IPS., then focused on differentiating between misinformation, malinformation and disinformation. He said, in today’s age of information disorder, as representatives of law enforcement and digital media, we share an enormous responsibility to address this problem head-on, and it is our duty to ensure that the integrity of the truth prevails. He explained the seven forms of common information disorder that prevail and how they can have disastrous impacts on our society, politics, economies, and indeed, the very fabric of our democracy.
