In August this year, the CMT brought together editors from India, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines to exchange information about the problems they’re experiencing in combatting mis- and dis-information.
The editors don't expect meaningful regulation against mis- and disinformation largely because their ruling political parties are often implicated in both its production and spread. Rather, these editors are more concerned about the degree of censorship that appears to be taking place in their individual news media ecosystems, even though they’re constantly told they live in democracies where free speech is respected.
In India, digital-born news publications are fighting not just mis- and dis-information, but the overwhelming financial power of corporate media, which has the support of government. Sustainability remains difficult for independent outlets, especially in an environment where political advertising is the norm, and which by and large goes to big media. To make matters worse, the very people being reported on have the power to launch protracted and financially crippling attacks of ‘lawfare’ against journalists. On top of all of this, deepfakes have hit the Indian news media industry when it was already struggling against the tide of false narratives.
Against this backdrop, we asked the editors who came to CMT how generative AI could be used to advance ethical journalism, and whether they saw co-regulation as a viable alternative to state and platform autonomies. In this episode of Double Take, our regional consultant and expert on South Asian media Kean Wong asks what the editors took away from the forum, and what lies ahead for them and the media industry in India.
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Alexia Giacomazzi, Events and Communciations Officer