Advocating people's involvement in weeding out the menace of misinformation, Director Information & Public Relations, Dr. Syed Sehrish Asgar, today emphasized the need to raise awareness regarding the cause of misinformation and the measures imperative for tackling this gigantic issue societal unrest.Dr. Sehrish expressed these views while participating in a panel discussion on "Misinformation a Menace" organised by India First Foundation at Business School auditorium, Jammu University here today.Other who participated in the discussion were Vice Chancellor Jammu University, Prof. Manoj Dhar, Brigadier Brijesh Pandey BGS (IW), NC, Indian Army, AIG (Communication) PHQ, Manoj Kumar Pandit and senior journalist Ashwani Kumar.She highlighted numerous steps initiated by the Department to limit the spread of fake news which not only challenges the credibility and integrity of a particular person or agency but badly hampers the nation's progress and prosperity.Dr. Sehrish asserted that since social media leaves a deep impact on the minds of the people, everyone connected with this field should perform his role and responsibility with utmost care and concern. Director Information also elaborated on a number of initiatives being taken by the Information Department towards ensuring prompt and quick dissemination of authentic news and facts so as to prevent spread of fake news. In this regard, she highlighted the social media sites including twitter and Face book which is being run by the department in a total professional manner. She exhorted upon the media fraternity to optimally utilize this facility being extended by the department to check the veracity of the news before presenting the same to the public.
Meanwhile, senior journalist Ashwani Kumar, while expressing his views on the subject, explained in detail the steps that can be taken by the journalists to tackle this menace effectively. He emphasized the need for strict adherence towards maintaining high standards of journalist’s ethics. He also highlighted several misinformation campaigns being launched in the social media. He said that it is the prime responsibility of a true journalist to extract the truth of every news before taking it to the public.Brigadier Brijesh Pandey and AIG Manoj Kumar Pandit, while sharing their role and responsibility in this regard, said that police and army have a huge role to play in tackling misinformation menace in the social media. They emphasized the need of timely intervention of government agencies in curbing the menace of fake news which is being spread in a viral manner in the world of social media. "A slew of rules and regulations on limitating the contents of social sites and related agencies is the need of the hour to contain the ever mounting campaign of misinformation", they maintained.Vice Chancellor Jammu University also expressed his views on the subject in a descriptive manner.Meanwhile, Khushboo Mattoo presented welcome address and Omar Malik presented vote of thanks.