The federal government is set to sign a new bill into the law that aims to curb the problem of fake news in the country’s media industry, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Fawad Chaudhry, has revealed.
According to details, the Federal Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MoIB) has already submitted the draft of the bill to the federal cabinet for approval, which would become a law once ratified by the federal cabinet.
Speaking in this regard, the Minister said that the disease of fake news has plagued the country’s media industry, adding that the media industry has failed to rein in the dissemination of false propaganda through fake news, which prompted the MoIB to draft such a bill.
He termed fake news as the biggest challenge facing the country’s media industry, adding that the phenomenon of fake news in the country started after the revolution in the IT industry and an increase in the number of media platforms.
He also asked the media industry to step forward and suggest solutions to deal with the problem of fake news, adding that input from the media industry would be made part of the draft of the bill.
The Minister also underscored the need to train journalists with modern technology, enabling them to deal with modern warfare from across the border.
He recalled the report of EU Disinfo Lab from December last year that exposed a vast Indian network of 750 fake media outlets based in 116 countries running a global campaign for the past 15 years to discredit Pakistan internationally.
He added that he has been calling for fundamental media, political, and judicial reforms since 2018. He said that these reforms are extremely vital for the country and it cannot move forward without them.
