In today's digital age, a daily surge of misleading information floods the online portals, reaching millions. This exposes both citizens and government to the dangers of misinformation and manipulation. Speakers see mass media as a crucial defence in this fight.
Speakers presented such information during the day-long workshop titled ''Training of facilitators to fight against misinformation'' organised by the Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication with the support of The Asia Foundation at the National Institute of Mass Communication in the Darussalam area of Dhaka on Monday.
The speakers remarked that people from large metropolises to rural villages instantly know what is happening around the world through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media platforms through smartphones. Due to the internet and digitalisation, much information is fed to people daily, and they make up their minds with the presented facts. However, the general public does not understand what proper information is or what disinformation and misinformation are.
They said several outlets intentionally spread misinformation whereby many people share the disinformation or misinformation without understanding the context. It is seen that he/she has no personal vested interest. However, the intake of the wrong information happens.
The speakers emphasised conducting workshops in different upazilas and village areas to work on stopping the spreading of misinformation or disinformation. Additionally, they were urged to work on institutionalising fact-checking processes to check whether a piece of information is valid or not.
They also opined that social media needs to have a counter-narrative to fight this issue, saying that children are also being fed misinformation because they watch various types of content on YouTube, making them no longer understand the differences between disinformation and misinformation.
Hence, the speakers urged the inclusion of these misinformation-related issues in the education curriculum at the primary and secondary school levels.
Among the discussants, Amader Shomoy and The Business Post Executive Editor Mainul Alam, Ajker Patrika Editor Prof Dr Golam Rahman, Prothom Alo Joint Editor Sohrab Hassan, Dhaka University's Mass Communication and Journalism Department's Chairman Prof Dr Abul Mansur Ahmed and Professor Dr S M Shameem Reza, Bangla Vision TV Senior News Editor Abu Rushd Md Ruhul Amin, put forth valid points during the workshop.
The teachers of several universities' mass communication and journalism departments of several universities, along with journalists from various media outlets and other officials, also attended the workshop.
