The Indian government is trying to fight fake news in the country by denying official advertisements to publications that report it, reports Asian Age.
It is thus set to amend Clause 25 of the New Print Media Advertisement Policy, 2016 which deals with issues of suspension and recovery. The aim is to stop the release of Directorate of Advertising & Visual Publicity (DAVP) advertisements to media houses which have carried fake news.
With ‘fake news’ becoming the word of the year, thanks to the efforts of a certain President Donald Trump, government authorities across the world have been more cautious about the content which goes out in their respective news media.
However, the problem of interpreting what constitutes as ‘fake news’ or news published with ‘bad intent’, is something the government needs to consider. According to One India, the government is looking towards the Press Council of India and Press Information Bureau to weed out such news.
The government’s ban on releasing official advertisements to erring media houses is to be conducted for a specified period and will depend on the seriousness of the level of ‘misreporting’.
(With inputs from Asian Age and One India.)
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