WhatsApp is a Breeding Ground of False Information: Journalists

Based on the experiences of 152 journalists and activists, the report titled as ‘Sifting truth from lies in the age of fake news’ has identified that social media platforms, especially WhatsApp is spreading the false information among the mass. The well experienced journalists and activists have participated in the making of the report and is released by Digital Rights Foundation.

According to eight percent of journalist, that no one is checking the facts in the newsroom. DRF observed that journalists are not comfortable with the term ‘fake news’ in order to describe news which is not true because it has been increasingly used in Twitter campaigns for partisan propaganda as well as discrediting credible journalism.

WhatsApp is a Breeding Ground of False Information: Journalists

Author of the study, Ramsha Jahangir said:

“The findings of the study point towards an increasing weaponization of context. Old images/videos are packaged as new, doctored screenshots of tickers go viral..anything with a kernel of truth is used out of context. This is not ‘fake news’. We are all victims of information disorder,”

DRF’s Executive Director Nighat Dad said that Fake news is not a tech or media literacy problem, but also one that needs to be examined from a socio-psychological perspective.

The fake news is spreading so easily just because of lack of awareness among the people, the media practitioners and journalist community. It is very important to fight against the fake news on digital platforms.

DRF also recommended to tackle fake news and requested the Government to involve key stakeholders such as civil  society, media practitioners, press clubs, journalists’ unions and news organisations, to control information disorder.

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