An antidote to virtual toxicity

An antidote to virtual toxicity

Context

How good journalism can help tackle disinformation

What has happened?

A regulatory framework that balances free speech and accountability is one of the hallmarks of a mature democracy. In this context, the latest recommendations by the European Commission (EC) to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions to tackle online disinformation is a fine document that refrains from any overreach that would undermine free expression

Latest Study on Press Freedom by Reporters without borders

• India is placed at a low 138 out of 180 countries
• According to the report: “With Hindu nationalists trying to purge all manifestations of ‘anti-national’ thought from the national debate, self-censorship is growing in the mainstream media and journalists are increasingly the targets of online smear campaigns by the most radical nationalists, who vilify them and even threaten physical reprisals.”

Present news ecology

In India, the present information ecology is vitiated by many factors:

• Undue pressure on mainstream news organisations and journalists
• Strategic deployment of trolls
• Planting suspicion regarding legitimate reports by indulging in whataboutery (the technique or practice of responding to an accusation or difficult question by making a counter-accusation or raising a different issue), and amplifying disinformation through social media networks
• India is also one of the few countries where defamation is both a civil and a criminal offence

How did Europe manage to deal with this issue without taking away the rights of citizens?

Basic tenets that the technical team which worked on this subject used to formulate its response:

• To not give power to either governments or private companies to manage political debate
• The three most harmful contents — child pornography, hate speech and incitement of violence — are dealt with by existing laws But It is a question of political will to implement the existing laws. There is no need to create new ones
• We need to have space for voices that are not desirable for many and yet not illegal

Role of platform companies

• The business model of platform companies, which collect data for monetisation, is central to the crisis
• Hence, the EC recommendation focusses more on the role of platform companies. It demands a more transparent, trustworthy and accountable online ecosystem in which “it is necessary to promote adequate changes in platforms’ conduct, a more accountable information ecosystem, enhanced fact-checking capabilities and collective knowledge on disinformation, and the use of new technologies to improve the way information is produced and disseminated online.”

High Quality journalism is the anti-dote that we need

• One of the areas where the EC communication makes a breakthrough is to come up with protocols that harness technologies across platforms “to play a central role in tackling disinformation over the longer term”
• Central to this idea is “to invest in high-quality journalism”
• In other words, it says that good journalism is the antidote to a toxic virtual space.