KSMC Organizes Second Episode of “Meet the Media Person”

KIIT School of Mass Communication (KSMC) organised the second episode of its periodic programme “Meet the Media Person” on 10th April 2021. The objective of the programme was to spread awareness on fake news reporting and to up skill students with strategies to deal with it.

Mr. Bharat Nayak, Founding Editor of The Logical Indian, Google News Trainer and Head of an NGO for acid attack survivors ‘Make Love Not Scars’, was invited as the guest speaker for the session. Mr. Nayak has been strategizing and overseeing the execution of the content and has been the head of the fact-check department of The Logical Indian. He is also a verification trainer with Google News Initiative Trainer Network in India, a program to help fellow/journalism students fight the tide of online misinformation. As part of the network, he conducts training at journalism colleges/newsrooms to fight online misinformation and also train them on tools that can help them do better journalism and report on fake news.

The programme commenced with a welcome address by Dr Bidu Bhusan Dash, Course Coordinator of KSMC. It was moderated by Ms. Kathakali Dutta, a student of Master of Communication and Journalism (Integrated) programme. Ms. Dutta briefed about several events and programmes hosted by KSMC and its flourishing journey within the few years of its establishment.

Mr. Bharat Nayak started with a power point presentation on the topic: “Introduction To GNI Training Network”and discussed how newsrooms make mistakes that can turn into a massive blunder and question the credibility of a media house. He said that the news media has to be fast and very skilled regarding the checking of information. Citing examples, he referred to news which reported that Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a talk show ‘Exam Par Charcha’, had suggested to opt for difficult questions first during examination; whereas in reality he had suggested to cover difficult topics first while preparing for examination. “When you recheck your sources your credibility increases”, added Mr. Nayak. He gave another example of Kiran Bedi, Former Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry and IPS Officer, who tweeted a video of the Sun making the sound of ‘Om’. In addition to that, his talk included examining the usage of various digital tools through various sites. He discussed the types of digital tools which include tools for creating content, sharing, researching, and fact-checking with relevant examples. Mr. Nayak’s presentation was followed by a question-answer session where he took on the queries of the students as well as the teachers.

The event ended with the vote of thanks by Ms. Kathakali Dutta. Faculty members – Ms Ruby Nanda, Dr Anurag Sahu and Mr Souptik Garai were present in this session. It was an immensely informative session and greatly benefited the participants. The programme was conducted online over Zoom and was attended by the students, alumni and faculty members.