To deal with the spread of fake news or disinformation, a yearlong research project – Angkor ‘Anti-Fake news’ initiative was signed in Paro, this morning, at the 45th Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIBD) annual gathering.
The outcome of the research will serve as the outline for the formulation of policies in the country and train media professionals. Bhutan is hosting the AIBD meeting for the first time
The AIBD in partnership with United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and two Malaysian Universities will undertake the research.The research is an attempt to understand fake news or disinformation as a research concept and impact on society from the Asian broadcaster’s perspective.
The research involving key public service media is first of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region. During the 16th Asia Media summit in Cambodia in June this year, ministers and policy makers from different countries reached to a consensus that media professionals and academicians need more awareness and literacy programmes to combat disinformation.
The president of AIDB says the privatization of broadcasting services has led to creation of disinformation.
“Fake news has plagued media landscape of different countries and my country in our region has been plagued more than any area. I have in my professional lives during the past five to six years, it has become kind of a market that elicits money but destroys the image and the reputation of the government, individual, the philosophers and even the fiction writer. It has happened in India and it has happened elsewhere,” said Shri Fayyaz Sheheryar, the President of AIBD.
The conference, which ended today, saw the largest gathering of 48 delegates from 17 countries across the Asia-Pacific region. Among the delegates was Cambodia’s minister for information.
A gala dinner was hosted for the delegates yesterday where four TV and radio awards were also presented to the winners.
“We have a very unique country but we are not able to market it well, so we thought that since this is going to be a gathering of all broadcasters, people who are associated with the broadcasting industry, it will be a very good platform to project Bhutan to the outside world. Moreover, when you are coming in contact with so many broadcasters you can have discussions on co-productions and mutually beneficial projects. We can agree on those things,” said Tshering Wangchuk, the Chief Executive Officer for Bhutan Broadcasting Service Corporation.
The BBSC hosted this year’s AIBD annual gathering and meeting in collaboration with the Tourism Council of Bhutan and the Ministry of Information and Communications.
