Sift realities from rumours
Is it true that Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad
Asif had recently threatened Israel with a retaliatory nuclear attack since the
Israelis had said they would use nuclear weapons against Pakistan since they feared
that it would send ground troops to Syria?
Fake news — the deliberate creation of factually incorrect
content to mislead people for some gain — is becoming an increasingly serious
problem. And tackling it is imperative in a perpetually wired and click-happy
world. While the news
may be fake, its impact is real and potentially far-reaching.
The broad contours of what constitutes fake news need to be
defined. News and social media companies have a moral responsibility to ensure
that they do not, directly or otherwise, deliberately misrepresent the facts to
their audiences and pass them off for news. If mainstream media was differentiating
reporting and opinions in true sense rather than pushing opinions in the guise
of reporting, the problem would not have reached such proportions.
Post-truth is used as a term to advance opinions which are
false but convincing. For example Jinnah's call for a two state solution based on a
presumption that Hindus and Muslims can't live together (which was false but
convincing to many). Similarly Hitler's call that Jews were genesis of all
German problems was a post-truth phenomenon. In contemporary times the Brexit
campaign which argued that immigrants are the major cause of the job loss in Britain
is the crisp example of post-truth.
The deliberate creation of misleading news and click bait
have become serious problem. It is not limited to social media. The so called
mainstream media is not immune to it. This has caused a “great deal of
confusion” over current affairs. Any attempt to control or regulate such
misdeeds of the press is rejected as 'muzzles on opinion and speech' and that
the regulation should come from within through rigorous internal editorial and
advertising standards as advocated in these columns.
It is indeed a very tricky situation. Fake news can be used
to create false notions, which may significantly impact the forthcoming events.
The truth may be established at a later stage, but the change done on the
subsequent events may not be reversible and can alter the outcomes in a very
negative manner, like the election of Trump. Fake news are spreading fast
because many repost this news without verifying the authenticity and people
react without realizing the fact. To some extent the fake news spreads because
of the fact that many media houses twist the facts while reporting, thereby
giving a breeding ground to circulate fake news. This is the result of 'over-
spread' and over- dependence on latest technology, especially communication
technology. Any news, fake or real, is spreading like viral epidemic and people
are unable to differentiate between real and fake. Everyone is coming under the
spell of the news with no time to think.
In India, any news authenticity notwithstanding, spreads like
a wild fire and it is all the more essential that the essence has to be
genuine, authentic lest damages are far more devastating. Unfortunately
regulatory mechanisms to control the flow of news and punishment to the
offenders in India is not so structured and hence impunity rules the roost,
fake news floats in the air for too long and confusions galore.
In this era where technology drives anything and everything
faster than humans, we need to learn to sift the realities from rumours and be
in touch with realities of the day, lest we lose sight of tomorrow.
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