The fact-checking unit will be a unit of government, by and for government.it will have no parliament or legal powers
Posted Date – Tuesday, 16 May 23 at 12:30pm
Arun Sinha
The central government has pushed forward with its decision to establish a fact-checking unit (FCU) to “identify fake or false” digital media in digital media over the objections of the Press Association of India, the Editors’ Association of India, the News Broadcasting and Digital Association, and other media organizations. related misleading information. While the government’s decision is about information in digital media, it also puts information in print and television media at risk, as content flows without borders between the three sectors. As such, FCU is a matter of serious concern throughout the media.
The main question is: do we need FCUs to identify disinformation about government activities? Hasn’t every segment of the media—print, television, and digital—already developed a mechanism to identify and correct such information? This mechanism is two-tiered. Downstairs sit the editors of newspapers; the broadcasters of television channels; and the hosts of digital media entities. Upstairs is the Press Council of India, which is responsible for the newspaper industry; the News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA), which is responsible for news broadcasting; and the Digital News Publishers Association, or similar body for digital publishers.
two-tier mechanism
Since the media in India is self-regulated, it is this two-tiered mechanism, not the government, that enforces professional ethics. The first principle of professional ethics is that information must be true to the best of the reporter’s knowledge. Journalists must verify information and satisfy themselves that it is true and accurate before it is released into the public domain. If the information is false, it can happen in two situations. One, journalists did not do enough cross-checking. Second, they do it on purpose to damage someone’s reputation. The first case is a professional error, the second case is unprofessional. Both are violations of professional ethics.
Correction for both violations starts at the bottom. The Journalistic Code of Conduct, set by the Press Council of India, says, “When any factual error or error is discovered or confirmed, the newspaper shall promptly and in an appropriate and prominent manner publish a correction in a timely manner and apologize or express regret in the case of a serious lapse.” If the newspaper refuses Correct the mistake, and the remedy will escalate to the upper echelons, where it will be enforced by the Press Council. For newspapers that have seriously or repeatedly violated the regulations, the News Council also has the right to recommend that the government advertisements be suspended.
TV, digital media
Likewise, with TV channels, correcting mistakes starts with the broadcaster. When factual errors are detected or confirmed, they are expected to make corrections, apologize on-screen and delete them from their digital archives. If they don’t, the matter goes up to the NBDSA, who may impose fines, including fines, on the broadcasters.
As for digital media, there is no single self-regulatory body like the Press Council or NBDSA. Every digital publisher is required to establish a self-regulatory mechanism in the form of an ombudsman to respond to complaints about breaches of professional ethics. Above them are self-regulatory bodies such as the Association of Digital News Publishers.
If institutional self-regulation already exists to combat misinformation in the print, television and digital media, why would the government insist on establishing the FCU? It can always use these mechanisms to counter misinformation. Each department has a press and information bureau officer. If the media makes any mistakes about their department, they can quickly refute it. If the government still decides to set up a super regulator, it will naturally raise doubts. Suspicion deepens when you look at the vast territories and unquestioned powers allotted to the FCU.
As for the Territories, the FCU will identify misinformation in the online space about “any business” of the government. Now, “any business” is a very broad term that includes all government policies, programs and activities. It is in the nature of the media to censor all government policies, programs and activities. It is in the nature of the government to label negative reports in the media as false and misleading.
We saw this in the age of Covid. When the media highlighted the government’s failure to control the pandemic and provide care for the people, it deemed the reports false and misleading, even invoking laws such as the Disaster Management Act to jail several journalists.As the Press Association of India aptly put it, “By [becoming] As a judge of its own cause, the government… is taking steps to effectively suppress criticism and… fair comment. “
government
As for powers, the FCU will be a unit of the government, by and for the government. It will have no parliament or legal powers. It will not be as representative as the Press Committee and NBDSA. Its decision makers will be ministers and officials. Their decisions will be based solely on their judgment. Once the FCU determines that a piece of information is false, it will require the publisher to delete or disable access to the information within 36 hours. Content creators will not be heard from. This is the case of the BBC documentary India: The Modi Problem. This has happened to thousands of social media posts. Negative stories appearing in digital editions of newspapers have already happened. They were ordered to remove it without giving the creators a chance to defend their content. The principles of natural justice were buried.
Clearly, the idea behind FCU does not seem to be to remove disinformation about government activity, but to remove unfavorable information about government activity. The government’s intention is to force the media to present the official version as the only truth. As more and more people access news online, the government recognizes the power of digital media.
FCU will serve the government as a digital media intelligence agency. Its job is to scour online spaces to eliminate dissent under the guise of eliminating misinformation. It can even use artificial intelligence to simplify its work. Two years ago, the UK government established an FCU called the Rapid Response Unit (RRU). An independent investigation has found that the RRU has been conducting mass surveillance of the content of politicians, academics, activists, journalists and even the general public in the name of fighting misinformation.
