WB guv expresses concern over menace of fake news

West Bengal Governor K N Tripathi Saturday expressed concerns over the menace of fake news and said "planting and promoting" it is a crime against the nation.

"Every happening should not be looked into through coloured glasses. Truth must be reported. A reporter must report objectively and should avoid false and concocted news jeopardising the future of the country," he said while speaking at the annual Sarat Bose Memorial Lecture.

The topic of the Sarat Bose Memorial Lecture was 'The News Media Today: Watchdog or Promoter of Fake News?'.

"No doubt the media has to be critical, analytical impartial to bring to the notice of the people the functioning of the government," he said.

 

"But planting and promoting fake news is a crime against the nation. Political ideologies and commercial interests are affecting the independence and fearlessness of the media," he said.

N Ravi, former editor-in-chief of The Hindu newspaper, while delivering the keynote address cautioned about the ill-effects of fake news.

"Fake news is always untrue but it may have an impact of different kind. It could be harmless much of the time, it could be just disinformation or it could have harmful consequences where misinformation is deliberately created to harm a person, social group, community or a country," N Ravi said.

Fake news has been more of a problem of social media (platforms) such as WhatsApp, where there have been instances of rumours of child-lifters or cow butchers had led to lynchings, he said.

N Ravi, director of Kasturi & Sons Ltd, however maintained that "politicians have been quick to brand a news as fake news which they do not like to undermine the credibility of the media".

"Journalism is always a work in a hurry to meet a deadline and many times mistakes are made. Good journalism demands that media owns up its mistake and correct them with equal prominence. This has to be done either through self-regulation and not through any other outside regulation," he said.