GOALPARA, Sept 6 - Golapara district has seen a sudden increase in the number of news portals, in what seems to be a business opportunity before the 2021 Assembly elections. These news channels or web-based news portals which are flooding Facebook and other social media do not seem to be under any regulatory mechanism nor under any licensing authorities and are allegedly disseminating news and information with vested interests, compromising the basic ethics of journalism.
Former president of Goalpara District Journalists� Association (GDJA) and Amar Asom correspondent Dilip Sarma said that in the absence of any licensing authority or the need of approval for starting a media web portal, their mushrooming is a new phenomenon started by some self-proclaimed journalists. The latter disseminate cheap disinformation free of cost to vulnerable recipients who spread it further through social media and WhatsApp, threatening the edifice of quality journalism. He said there must be a background check of every web-based news portal scribe for authenticity by the government. Sarma said some web-based news scribes have seriously dented the profession of journalism in the absence of any regulatory mechanism as they are not bounded by the norms of conduct laid down by the Press Council of India (PCI). There has been a rising number of unreported incidents of alleged extortion by these web-based scribes, which has become a cause of concern. Even if a misconduct is detected, no punitive action can be taken in the absence of laws governing these web portals, he added.
Abdus Subhan, president of GDJA, said that fuelled by the latest technology, disinformation created by these web-based portals is undermining the accredited journalists who are finding it hard to maintain their professionalism. Under the given scenario, people take as credible, the portals� cheap and attractive content, uploaded on social networks, free of cost.
Forest officials from the Divisional forest office, Goalpara too have expressed concern on the rise of such web-based portals. One official on the condition of anonymity said that a few web-based news portals are even resorting to blackmail and trying to extort money by coercing forest officials, especially in the Lakhipur Range Forest Office, Lakhipur and Central Range, Krishnai. The official also informed that some of these self-proclaimed scribes have unauthorisedly stopped vehicles carrying forest materials like sand, gravel etc., to check challans several times in the last few months and also the sudden appearance of these portals� scribes at the time of conducting raids, is posing extra challenges for the forest officials.
Social activist Noni Das and other social workers said that while the spread of disinformation by web-based portals is a systemic failure, they appealed for uncompromising and ethical journalism and the spread of authentic information among the readers and the fight against corruption in the district to continue.
GOALPARA, Sept 6 - Golapara district has seen a sudden increase in the number of news portals, in what seems to be a business opportunity before the 2021 Assembly elections. These news channels or web-based news portals which are flooding Facebook and other social media do not seem to be under any regulatory mechanism nor under any licensing authorities and are allegedly disseminating news and information with vested interests, compromising the basic ethics of journalism.
Former president of Goalpara District Journalists� Association (GDJA) and Amar Asom correspondent Dilip Sarma said that in the absence of any licensing authority or the need of approval for starting a media web portal, their mushrooming is a new phenomenon started by some self-proclaimed journalists. The latter disseminate cheap disinformation free of cost to vulnerable recipients who spread it further through social media and WhatsApp, threatening the edifice of quality journalism. He said there must be a background check of every web-based news portal scribe for authenticity by the government. Sarma said some web-based news scribes have seriously dented the profession of journalism in the absence of any regulatory mechanism as they are not bounded by the norms of conduct laid down by the Press Council of India (PCI). There has been a rising number of unreported incidents of alleged extortion by these web-based scribes, which has become a cause of concern. Even if a misconduct is detected, no punitive action can be taken in the absence of laws governing these web portals, he added.
Abdus Subhan, president of GDJA, said that fuelled by the latest technology, disinformation created by these web-based portals is undermining the accredited journalists who are finding it hard to maintain their professionalism. Under the given scenario, people take as credible, the portals� cheap and attractive content, uploaded on social networks, free of cost.
Forest officials from the Divisional forest office, Goalpara too have expressed concern on the rise of such web-based portals. One official on the condition of anonymity said that a few web-based news portals are even resorting to blackmail and trying to extort money by coercing forest officials, especially in the Lakhipur Range Forest Office, Lakhipur and Central Range, Krishnai. The official also informed that some of these self-proclaimed scribes have unauthorisedly stopped vehicles carrying forest materials like sand, gravel etc., to check challans several times in the last few months and also the sudden appearance of these portals� scribes at the time of conducting raids, is posing extra challenges for the forest officials.
Social activist Noni Das and other social workers said that while the spread of disinformation by web-based portals is a systemic failure, they appealed for uncompromising and ethical journalism and the spread of authentic information among the readers and the fight against corruption in the district to continue.
