Myanma Radio and Television under the Ministry of Information and Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development-AIBD jointly organized a “Workshop on Media Literacy to Address Disinformation” in Nay Pyi Taw yesterday.
Union Minister for Information U Maung Maung Ohn, Deputy Minister U Ye Tint, Permanent Secretary U Myo Myint Maung, Directors-General and Managing Directors, Myanmar Press Council Chairman U Ohn Maung (Myinmu Maung Naing Moe), departmental officials, Joint Venture Broadcasters of MRTV and trainees.
The ceremony commenced with the screening of a video clip on the role of the State media in nation-building endeavours.
Speaking at the event, the Union minister said media and information literacy (MIL) is an essential mechanism to combat disinformation in this digital era. In Myanmar, the use of smartphones has exploded since 2011. With poor digital literacy skills, Myanmar users are susceptible to disinformation campaigns and other online dangers, particularly young people, the most prevalent users.
Most of the journalists and the media in the developing world including Myanmar lack the capacity and know-how to understand or uncover disinformation. When they do not possess verification skills, either they succumb to wrong information or are late in doing the damage control. So, this Workshop on Disinformation was held as a part of the Bali Declaration.
He continued that the ASEAN Task Force on Countering Fake News is organized and the staff of the Ministry of Information and officials of relevant departments are participating in releasing the true news, reviewing media regulations and existing media laws and also public awareness activities including media digital literacy in combating fake news and disinformation.
Then, Programme Manager Ms Monica Phang of AIBD and Malaysian Speaker Associate Professor Dr Sara Chinnasamy, Political and Media Analyst of Universiti Teknologi MARA-Ui TM made greeting speeches respectively.
The workshop focused on topics including “Journalism Objectivity and Values in Content”, “Targets of Lies, Rumours, and Hoaxes”, “Methods or Tools to Identify Disinformation and Exercise Judgment”, and “Journalists’ Role in Changing the Public’s Perception of Disinformation”.
The workshop will be held until 28 September. The MRTV of the Ministry of Information became a full member of AIBD on 29 July 1997 and actively participated in seminars, workshops and webinars of AIBD. This is the 3rd workshop between Myanmar and AIBD. — MNA/ KTZH
