The Centre for Governance Studies (CGS), in collaboration with the US Department of State (USDS), recently arranged a dialogue - "Confronting Misinformation in Bangladesh".
It was the first of a series of dialogues and training sessions, to be held under a joint project of the CGS and the USDS.
The project aims to organise these dialogues with senior editors, journalists, professional fact-checkers, and social media influencers to understand how misinformation is reproduced and recirculated in Bangladesh.
Key speakers in the dialogue were New Age Editor Nurul Kabir and AFP Fact Checker Editor Qadaruddin Shishir. Mr Nurul Kabir said the government is currently Bangladesh's biggest source of disinformation and misinformation. The recent news of Bangladesh's self sufficiency in food is fake news, as the country still spends a significant amount in importing rice and wheat from abroad.
Similarly, he stated that the news of Bangladesh's capability to export electricity to Nepal is also fake news, as it is struggling with energy deficiency even in winter.
The New Age editor accused members of the incumbent government and those in the opposition parties of spreading disinformation and fake news about their own party's historic achievements.
Various other issues that the journalists regularly face during their work were also discussed during the event, including cumbersome and ineffective implementation of the Right to Information Act, prominence of paid content creators who circulate fake news on social media, ongoing attitude of self-censorship, unhealthy competition among outlets to release breaking news, and excessive work pressure.
CGS executive director Zillur Rahman moderated the discussion, and its chairman Dr Manjur A Chowdhury chaired the event.
Azizjst@yahoo.com