Obstacles to info flow, DSA challenge to journalism: discussion
Obstacles to info flow, DSA challenge to journalism: discussion
Journalists at a discussion on Monday said that they were facing difficulty in carrying out their professional duties properly for a number of factors.
They attributed obstacles to flow of information and sincerity on the part of the government, misinformation and fear of Digital Security Act to their hindrance to journalism practices.
A group of journalists outlined their problems and crises in a discussion titled ‘Confronting misinformation in Bangladesh’ held in Sylhet organised by the Centre for Governance Studies in collaboration with the US state department.
The programme was the fourth of a series of dialogue and training sessions under the joint project aiming to organise a series of dialogues with senior editors, journalists, professional fact-checkers and social media influencers to understand how misinformation is reproduced and re-circulated in Bangladesh.
Zahid Newaz Khan, chief news editor of private television Channel i said that fake news had existed alongside concrete news from the dawn of history but the internet and the social media added a broader dimension to the dissemination of fake news.
Cross-checking is one of the most crucial issues of news reporting and publishing news without fact-checking questions the quality of journalism, he added.
Zahid advised on-the-ground cross-checking because journalists should not just rely on the news they hear from sources or rumors.
This might get hectic but there is no alternative to authentic news sources except on-the-ground reporting, he added.
Various other issues that journalists regularly face in the line of work became apparent during the dialogue.
These issues include ineffective implementation of the Right to Information Act, prevalence of paid content creators circulating fake news on social media, current attitude of self-censorship, an unhealthy competition among the media outlets to release breaking news, and excessive work pressure on reporters.
CGS executive director Zillur Rahman moderated the discussion.
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