Govt banking on tech to curb misinformation
New Delhi, May 17
The Union Government wants to harness new technologies for public communication and also to have an institutional quick response mechanism to address misinformation.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Singh Thakur said today while inaugurating a day-long brainstorming session, a conclave on “Citizen Centric Communication as a Tool for Good Governance” here today.
Media changing fast
The media landscape is changing fast and so is the way people consume information. There is a need to adapt methods of information dissemination to meet needs of the 21st century. Anurag Thakur, i&b minister
The session was organised on issues relevant to government communication and to prepare an action plan and roadmap for guiding the communication and outreach activities of the Union Government. Thakur asked the officers of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, including its media units and Indian Information Service (IIS), to explore new frontiers in communication with the people and employ new technologies in that process.
Thakur said the media landscape was fast changing and so was the way people consume information. To that end, he added, there was a need to adapt methods of information dissemination to meet the needs of the 21st century. The Indian Information Service was a vital part of the government, the minister said.
He spelled out a clear priority for the target of communication for the ministry and said as the government was oriented towards welfare of the underprivileged. “A large part of India lives in a media shadow, bereft of facilities of television and newspapers. It is the responsibility of the officers of the service to reach out to that section of society,” he said.
Laying out the goals the ministry today looked at ways to have participatory communication with citizens — Jan Bhagidari; adoption of emerging technologies in public communications to maximize reach; institutionalisation of quick response mechanism to address misinformation; targeted outreach through regional communication and strengthening public service broadcasting.
