Wrong information, misinformation, and the malevolent manipulation of information known as disinformation have long been the core tasks of journalism to correct. It’s this issue of information integrity, and the challenges posed in this pursuit, whether from politics, business or technology, that we hope to unravel this week at our Information Integrity Forum 2024. In the uncertain democracies of Indonesia, the Philippines, India, and Malaysia, the need for good credible media has seldom been greater. We have brought senior editors from all of these nations to UTS to discuss how to achieve information integrity at a time when democracy and rights to free speech are in retreat.
From using tightened laws to regulate online critics in Indonesia, Malaysia and India, to using corporate and tax regulations to constrain and censor media owners in the Philippines and India, the so-called ‘lawfare’ against critical news reporting has become widespread.
Unsurprisingly, there’s an ambivalence bordering on distrust in these countries over government regulation of information and the media, despite huge concerns over unregulated social media, which has undermined both business models and audience trust in news reporting. According to our forum’s participants, they struggle to fight against the trust found in the kinship of closed social media groups, no matter the information integrity, and the betrayal of media audiences by the business scramble to survive with clickbait and sensational tales.
As the so-called ‘great powers’ contest between China and the United States plays out in our region, Australian newsrooms, as well as those in our neighbouring countries are shrinking, with fewer journalists reporting the upheavals reflected in a contest that affects our economies, our politics, and the way information is weaponised against democracies. But can addressing this shortfall in media resources be done by using generative AI tools, while ensuring information integrity is sustained, despite what some of our colleagues point out are the inherent Western language-trained biases of such technology?
As Australia launches its ‘Indo-Pacific Broadcasting Strategy’ this month, these are some of the challenges faced in our region by the leading editors and media managers gathered at our Information Integrity Forum. Solutions are hard to come but coming together to explore possible solutions is worth the effort.
Kean Wong, Co-founder of Malaysia's Centre for Independent Journalism