Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Wednesday applauded the Indian media for its role during the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the 17th Asia Media Summit, via video conferencing, the Minister said that Indian media ensured that COVID awareness messages, important government guidelines and free consultations with doctors reached everyone in the country.
That Doordarshan and All India Radio significantly delivered on their mandate of public service was proved by their role in setting the trend through prompt coverage, ground reports and organising programmes on public health, he said.
Speaking on the issue of misinformation, the Minister said, “Unverified claims and fake content circulating in media had created an atmosphere of extreme fear amongst the people.” Crediting the Press Information Bureau’s Fact Check Unit, he said the platform strongly fought against the menace of fake news and misinformation on a real time basis.
The theme of the Asia Media Summit this year is ‘Future Forward, Reimagining Media’. Stating that the media was today highly technologically driven and was witnessing a rapid pace of innovation, Mr. Thakur said the growth of Internet through affordable mobile devices had re-ignited the industry. He said 5G technology would further enhance user experience, with increase in the speed of delivery and improvement in the quality of media content.
However, Mr. Thakur said, authenticity of content would always remain at the core, whatever be the technological progress.
