Sharjah is in the spotlight once again and this time around it’s the brainstorming sessions at the International Government Communication Forum. From what I read in the local dailies the opinions expressed by the experts are noteworthy, which if incorporated in state policies, will go a long way in bringing about a better rapport between governments and its people (“IGCF participants’ discussion on role of technology successful”, Mar.7, Gulf Today).

Technology runs the world and UAE leads on that front. But we also know that fake and fabricated news is a huge challenge that the world faces today. Misinformation and doctored news on health, environment, security and politics is creating loads of damage, the most fatal is the ruining of trust between a government and its people.

In light of this I concur with the observations of Michaelle Jean, the former Governor General of Canada, who also happens to be a journalist.

“When I went to the other side as a public figure in the government, I could see how very disruptive fake news is. Unfortunately once anything is said now (on social media), even though it’s wrong, it becomes ‘undisputed fact’. The professional care of verifying the objectivity of things being said is missing.”

It is this aspect of news management which needs to be tackled on a war footing. There needs to a concerted and a global policy on tackling false news.

Madeline Smith

By email