In an interesting development, the federal government has approved a sum of Rs 2 billion to fight fake news. The allocation was approved during a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee and comes with an additional annual allocation of Rs 1.6 billion.
The scourge of fake news has spread far and wide worldwide, fuelled by the increasing prevalence of social and digital media. It has in fact become an indispensable tool for many groups, especially political parties and related groups during the time of national elections in various countries, the US and Pakistan being good examples.
The Rs 2 billion, according to reports, will be given to the military's public relations wing, ISPR, and will be used by it to "counter fake information against state institutions". The funding will be used to provide a "technological upgrade" to the capability of the organisation to counter fake news and the aim is that the upgrade should bring it at par with the technologies being used by those disseminating fake news and propaganda.
While all this is well and good, it is worth reminding that countering fake news is something that should be best left to the professionals - which means journalist-led news organisations and fact-checkers. The government should not directly get involved in it because that will reduce the credibility of the effort - by many neutral observers if funded by the government, it will be discounted and seen as counter-propaganda, and not necessarily as a correction of an incorrect narrative based on disinformation.
If the government has set aside Rs 2 billion then it should channelise these funds in a way that the counter to the fake news narrative is done most efficiently and effectively possible. Mainstream media organisations run by professionals should be taken on board and provided with a monetary incentive to hold training sessions for their staff on fact-checking and for having a system in place that first verifies information before it is released in the form of news reports. Professional journalists and credible news organisations will always try to ensure to the best of their ability and training that whatever information they put out on their platforms has been verified and fact-checked. Furthermore, dissemination of fake news and disinformation lends itself to virality, and a direct impact of this in terms of reduced impressions and traffic comes on the mainstream media.
Therefore, it makes perfect sense that they should be the ones to engage in the fight against fake news. Not only do they have the resources and experience (of engaging in journalism) to counter fake news and disinformation, but it is also in their own interest to invest in this initiative since in today's media landscape, it is not necessarily the case that credibility and the size of the audience go hand in hand. Hence, the scourge of fake news needs to be actively countered by journalists and mainstream media, and that is best done by enhancing their fact-checking and related professional capabilities.
The counter to fake news needs to be seen to be done organically and not through any explicitly government-funded initiative because that will make it appear as if it is not coming from a neutral and objective source. The government and the state are the target of the fake news and propaganda and any initiative to counter such a narrative that is overtly and explicitly coming from the government will be seen as biased and not neutral, and hence not credible or believable. Therefore, while the Rs 2 billion allocation is a welcome recognition of the dangers posed by the increasing prevalence of fake news, it needs to be utilised in a manner that is effective and efficient.