To combat misinformation, disinformation, and fake news in Bangladesh, a workshop entitled "Confronting Misinformation in Bangladesh" was held at the Rose View Hotel in Sylhet on Friday (October 20, 2023).

 

In collaboration with the US State Department, the Centre Governance Studies (CGS), a research organization, organized the workshop. Journalists and fact-checkers from various Sylhet-based national and local media outlets attended the workshop.

 

The opening remarks was delivered by CGS Executive Director Zillur Rahman, and the workshop was led by Agency France Presse's (AFP) Fact Check Editor Qadaruddin Shishir. "During election years, there is a tendency for rumors to spread throughout the country; journalists must be more vigilant in their news reporting," Zillur Rahman stated in his inaugural speech.

 

Emphasizing the difficulties journalists currently encounter, he stated, "The direct control and influence of the owners in various media houses is observable, and journalists are sometimes compelled to publish fabricated news." Additionally, journalists exhibit a deficiency in professionalism. Prior to disseminating news, it is critical to verify or fact-check the information conveyed. We believe that this workshop will help the journalists to improve their professionalismand will assist in fact checking.

 

Qadaruddin Shishir instructed journalists in the workshop on a variety of procedure, techniquesand precautionary measures pertaining to fact checking in the media. Further topics of discussion included election-centric misinformation, the characteristics of religious misinformation, and thepresent state of fact checking, the vulnerability of elections to misinformation, the comparative standing of Bangladesh in relation to other nations, strategies for addressing misinformation, and many more.