The coalition approved a foundation charter with the goal of educating the public about online disinformation protection measures and collaborating with important stakeholders.
The “Coalition Against Disinformation” (CAD) has been established by a number of journalism and mass communication departments from universities across Pakistan, independent digital media outlets, journalists’ associations, media rights organisations, and civil society organisations and activists to defend public interest journalism against threats to its credibility from various sources.
At a national conference, academic, digital media, and civil society organisations formed the coalition in an effort to defend public interest journalism and fight misinformation, particularly in the online and digital media spaces where misinformation is most prevalent.
According to a press release that was released here on Monday, the dialogue was hosted by the Digital Media Alliance of Pakistan (DigiMAP) and the Freedom Network, two organisations that monitor media rights in Pakistan.
The conference, “Academia and Media: Promoting Media Literacy on Countering Disinformation,” was attended by heads of departments of various journalism schools, scholars, digital journalists, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, the Women Journalists’ Association, the Alliance for Diversity and Pluralism in Media, the Pakistan Journalists Safety Coalition, digital rights activists, media legal experts, and senior journalists.
The coalition approved a foundation charter with the goal of educating the public about online disinformation protection measures and collaborating with important stakeholders, such as academic institutions, digital media, and civil society organisations, to support factual information.
Additionally, it intends to launch media and information literacy (MIL) projects in association with digital media, involving young scholars, researchers, and students. Iqbal Khattak, executive director of Freedom Network, addressed the conference and stated that the coalition is an effort to facilitate group and cooperative solutions to the issue of online misinformation.
He stressed that combating disinformation requires a cooperative approach and said, “The enormous scale and complexity of disinformation in Pakistan means that no single individual, group, or organisation can solve it.
Adnan Rehmat, a specialist in media development, asserted that academia is the crucial link in the multifaceted strategy to fight misinformation. “Unfortunately, academia is not seen as a part of the solution to curbing disinformation in the public imagination, despite the fact that academia’s involvement is essential to building a critical mass of influence to combat disinformation,” says the author.