‘Fake news issue must be tackled from homes’

Nagpur: The line between information and news is blurring today, and most affected by it are the homes, said Vijay Satokar, director of Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Amravati, on Thursday.
Satokar was speaking on ‘Impact of fake news on recent European politics’ at an event jointly organized by Nagpur University’s mass communication department and Priyadarshini Institute of Engineering and Technology (PIET) at the latter’s Hingna Road campus.

Controller of examinations of NU Neeraj Khaty, director of Lokmanya Tilak Jankalyan Shikshan Sanstha Abhijeet Deshmukh, principal of PIET Vivek Nanoti, vice-principal GM Asutkar and senior faculty of mass communication department Moiz Mannan Haque were present.

Satokar said, “Information can be easily accessed anywhere, on social media or on internet, where the source is unknown. But news can only be had through trusted sources like television or newspaper, which is carefully curated by trained journalists. Common man needs to learn to differentiate between the two which will help in curbing the nuisance of fake news.”

Satokar said common readers need to gauge the authenticity of information. “We take the second opinion on almost every trivial thing but blindly trust a message on social media. After receiving a dubious piece of information, we must check more sources by going through credible news channels or reading trustworthy newspapers and then become judgemental,” he said.

He said, “Creating awareness against spreading fake news must begin from homes since information palette of students and millennial generation is quite different.”

Deshmukh said it is futile to discuss unamendable and unchangeable matters on social media. Instead, the youngsters should utilize their time in gaining knowledge.

Khaty urged students to not believe in fake news and emphasized on sensible and responsible use of social media. He also asked students to thoroughly check sources before sending any news.